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DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


popular Stories. 

By AMY BROOKS. 

Each illustrated by the Author. 

THE RANDY BOOKS. 

nmo. Cloth. Cover Designs by the Author. Price, $1.35 each. 

RANDY'S SUMMER. RANDY'S GOOD TIMES. 

RANDY'S WINTER. RANDY'S LUCK. 

RANDY AND HER FRIENDS. RANDY'S LOYALTY. 
RANDY'S PRINCE. 


jfor lounger 'Readers. 

DOROTHY DAINTY SERIES. 

Large xamo. Cloth. Cover Designs by the Author. Set in large 
English type. Jacket in Colors. Price, $1.25 each. 

DOROTHY DAINTY. 

DOROTHY'S PLAYMATES. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT SCHOOL. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT THE SHORE. 

DOROTHY DAINTY IN THE CITY. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT HOME. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S GAY TIMES. 

DOROTHY DAINTY IN THE COUNTRY. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S WINTER. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT THE MOUNTAINS. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S HOLIDAYS. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S VACATION. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S VISIT. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT CRESTVILLE. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S NEW FRIENDS. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT GLENMORE. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT FOAM RIDGE. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT THE STONE HOUSE. 

DOROTHY DAINTY AT GEM ISLAND. 

DOROTHY DAINTY'S RED LETTER DAYS. 

V DOROTHY DAINTY'S TREASURE CHEST, 
s DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE. 

THE PRUE BOOKS. 

umo. Cloth. Cover Designs by the Author. $1.00 each. 

PRUE AT SCHOOL. PRUE’S LITTLE FRIENDS. 

PRUE'S PLAYMATES. PRUE'S JOLLY WINTER. 


A JOLLY CAT TALE. Large nmo. Cloth. Profusely Illus¬ 
trated. Price.. . $1.33 






DOROTHY DAINTY’S 
CASTLE 

BY 

AMY BROOKS 

n 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 







DOROTHY DAINTY 

Trade-Mark 

Registered in U. S. Patent Office 


H 

Copyright, 1923, By Lothrop, Lex & Shepard Co. 


All rights reserved 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 



PRINTED IN V. 8. A. 

©C1A711796 J 


l 


1Rorwoo& press 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 

NORWOOD, MASS, 
u. s. A. 


SEP 10 '23 


r 

1 







CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I A Surprise . ..„ . 7 

II What Vera Heard. 29 

III An Odd Hunting Party. 43 

IV A Queer School. 61 

V First Day of School. 81 

VI The New Little Girl. 102 

VII What Became of Arabella’s Goggles . 126 

VIII The Costume Party. 146 

IX The Bangle. 169 

X Patricia Gives a “Talk”. 188 

XI A Salty Breeze .. 208 

XII Mother is Just Right. 226 
















ILLUSTRATIONS 


“This town is full of pirates,” declared Arabella 
(Page 9). Frontispiece 

PACING PAGH 

From the other side of that hidden wall came the 


sound of angry voices.34 

“Oh, please let me come in!” cried Patricia . . 66 

The Treasure Chest stood open and before it sat 
Jewel, the bangle in her hand ..... 118 

Dorothy wore a lovely oriental costume of scar¬ 
let and gold ..148 

“There goes our treat!”.200 
































































V 



















. V ' 






















































DOROTHY DAINTY’S 
CASTLE 


CHAPTER I 

A SURPRISE 

T HE great gardens at the Stone House 
had always been fine and stately, but 
their beauty had been enhanced, and now they 
stood flooded with sunlight, the finest gar¬ 
dens in that part of the country. There 
was a lovely new fountain, the great basin 
of which, sunk in the velvet lawn, was large 
enough to float a small boat. 

A section of wall, vine-covered, having 
three arch-shaped openings through w r hich 
one could see masses of flowers, a glimpse of 


8 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


a fountain, beautiful flowering shrubs, 
and the swaying tree-tops, had been built 
during the summer, and this bit especially 
delighted Dorothy and her playmates. 

It was great sport to play “Tag,” and it 
was almost impossible to catch a playmate 
who continually “dodged” in through one 
arch, and out through another. 

On a broad terrace a tiled flooring had 
been laid, its edge bordered by a little fence, 
and at the end of the fence stood a huge 
marble vase. 

This little tiled terrace formed a fine 
place on which to stand and enjoy the 
beauty of the garden, and Dorothy often 
ran out to this lovely spot to look down 
upon the bright masses of color below. 

One day, when Fluff had followed her, 
she picked him up so that he, too, might 
see the lovely colors. There was a broad 


A SURPRISE 


9 


border of lawn outside the fence, and Dor¬ 
othy, thinking herself alone, was startled 
when Arabella appeared, walking along on 
the other side of the fence. 

“My! How you jumped!” she said, 
“You’d have jumped even higher if I’d 
shouted what my father said last night,” 
she continued. “I didn’t hear him, but my 
aunt did, and she knows. My father says 
this town is full of pirates! M-m!” 

Arabella was delighted. She thought 
that, for once, she had been the first to tell 
a bit of news, but Dorothy’s answer was not 
quite what she had expected. 

“Oh, your father was joking,” Dorothy 
said, but Arabella stoutly denied that. 

“You may think he was joking if you 
like,” she said, “but what I said was true 

She ran along the terrace, but when she 
reached the driveway, she turned and 


10 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

looked up at Dorothy. “I guess you’d be¬ 
lieve it if you knew what I know. Aunt 
Matilda is having big brass bolts put on 
every door, just because of what Father 
said,” she shouted, and then she hurried up 
the avenue toward home. 

Arabella Correyville was a strange child 
who seemed to delight in startling her play¬ 
mates. She had told her “pirate yam” to 
every one whom she had met. 

‘ 4 Arabella always makes us so uncomfort¬ 
able,” Dorothy whispered to little Fluff, 
“and Nancy is up at the house, to be sure, 
but Mother, and Father, and Aunt Char¬ 
lotte will not be home until six o’clock to¬ 
night.” She set Fluff down, and raced 
with him to the porch. 

Indoors she found the butler, but his 
knowledge was limited. 

“Sure, Miss Dorothy, all I knows ’bout 


A SURPRISE 


11 


pirates, is wot I seen on the stage one time, 
an’ all I remember is their red trousers like 
no gentleman would wear, a bandanna tied 
’round their heads, and a knife betwixt 
their teeth.” 

“Oh, they must have looked very horrid,” 
Dorothy said in a voice a little louder than 
a wee whisper. 

“They looked turrible, but their singing 
was turribler!” said the butler. 

Dorothy ran through the house, calling 
all the way for Nancy. 

She found her in the library, bending 
over a big book, and oddly enough, the pic¬ 
ture that held her attention, represented a 
ship of the olden time, attacked by pirates. 

“Come away from that book!” cried Dor¬ 
othy, “and we’ll sit on the low seat by the 
window, while I tell you what I’ve just 
heard.” 


12 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


Nancy listened. 

“But we’re not going to sea, and we’re 
not living anywhere near the sea,” she ob¬ 
jected, “and I don’t care what the butler 
means. If it is true that just ‘once upon a 
time y there were perfectly horrid pirates 
prowling around, I don’t believe there are 
any now . Oh, I wish Arabella wouldn’t 
come over here every time she hears or 
thinks of something that is disagreeable to 
tell!” 

“So do I,” said Dorothy, “and I do wish 
James could have truly told me that pirates 
were never real, and that they were just 
fairy-tale people. If what Arabella said is 
true, that this town is full of them, why are 
they here, and what are they doing?” 

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Nancy 
said slowly, her eyes very wide-open, as if 
she, too, were becoming anxious. 


A SURPRISE 


13 


It happened that just at that moment, 
Uncle Harry was passing, and catching a 
glimpse of him from the window, they 
rushed out on the driveway, shouting to him 
as they ran. 

“Uncle Harry! Oh, please wait a min¬ 
ute !” they called, and quickly he turned, 
and opened the great gate. 

“Why, what’s up, little friends?” he 
asked, in real concern. 

He had thought that a mischievous prank 
was being planned, hut he now saw that 
Dorothy was really frightened, while Nancy 
was surely far from calm. 

“We’re alone to-day, just we two and the 
servants, and Arabella—” 

“Has been telling her pirate yarn?” 
Uncle Harry said, to complete Dorothy’s 
statement, and he laughed merrily at her 
surprise. 


14 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“How did you know what I was going to 
say?” she asked. 

“I know, because she called at our house 
first, and then at Molly Merton’s, and suc¬ 
ceeded in frightening Molly and Flossie so 
that they’re afraid to leave the house lest a 
pirate be lurking behind every gate-post. 
Here’s Correyville now. Let’s see what he 
has to say about this wild pirate yarn,” 
Uncle Harry said, as he turned to greet his 
neighbor. 

Mr. Correyville! stared in amazement 
when Uncle Harry told of Arabella’s alarm, 
and of the actual terror that she was 
spreading. 

“Where did the child get such a wild 
yarn as that?” he exclaimed, his surprise 
too genuine to be doubted. 

“Oh, Mr. Correyville, Arabella said that 
her Aunt Matilda heard you say that this 


A SURPRISE 


15 


town was filled with pirates!” cried Nancy. 

For a moment, Robert Correyville stared 
at Nancy, and then, a light, a twinkling 
light, came into his eyes, and how he 
laughed! Laughed until he nearly lost his 
breath. 

“Well, well, that is a joke!” he said when 
lie could stop laughing long enough to speak. 
“That surely is a joke! Bless me, but I 
must explain to Arabella. I recall what I 
said, but I never dreamed that my words 
could be twisted into anything that could 
terrify. I was talking with Mrs. Correy¬ 
ville, and I said that several of the store¬ 
keepers here in town were regular pirates, 
charging unreasonable prices for their 
goods. They are all pirates, I believe, al¬ 
though I suppose we must try to think that 
a few are honorable.” 

After Mr. Correyville had left them, 


16 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

Uncle Harry stood for a few moments talk¬ 
ing to them until they felt wholly assured 
that there was not a pirate in the town, and 
no likelihood that there ever would be. Pi¬ 
rates were out of date, he had said. 

“We were afraid, but I think Arabella 
will be disappointed,” Nancy said slowly. 

“Why do you think that?” Dorothy 
asked. 

“Because,” said Nancy, “she told that pi¬ 
rate story to you to frighten you, and I’m 
sure she’d rather you’d stay scared.” 

“Well, I’m not the least bit frightened 
now,” Dorothy said, and with a gay laugh 
she stooped, and caught little Fluff to her 
breast. 

“You darling Fluff!” she cried, “are 
you afraid of pirates?” 

He looked at her. 

“Wow-woof!” he answered. 


A SURPRISE 


17 


“That’s two words,” said Nancy. “I 
wonder if he means to say, ‘I am,’ when he 
says * Wow-woof ’! ’ ’ 

“Well, he needn’t be afraid,” said Doro¬ 
thy, “for we love him too much to let any 
one hurt or frighten him.” 

The evening was cool, and after dinner 
they all turned, as with one accord, to the 
great fireplace in the living-room, where 
Dorothy and Nancy crouched upon cushions 
on the floor before the fire, the older people 
preferring their comfortable chairs. 

“Tell us a story,” Dorothy coaxed, to 
which Nancy added: “Please tell us a 
story. You know so many stories about 
lords and ladies of long ago. Tell one of 
those, please.” So Mr. Dainty told an old 
romance, beginning with an ancient castle 
from which the lords and their fair ladies, 
richly dressed, and all mounted upon fine 


18 DOROTHY DAINTY'S CASTLE 

horses, rode forth one day, bent upon fal¬ 
conry. 

They were laughing and talking as they 
rode through the forest, and out on a sunny 
plain beyond. They bagged but few birds, 
but they had enjoyed the day. 

On the homeward way, some one began to 
sing a jolly hunting song, and soon the 
whole party joined in the chorus. 

They were near the castle when one of the 
ladies noticed that two of their party were 
missing. 

“Ah, but here they come now!” she cried 
a moment later. “See them off there in the 
distance?” 

“They were with us when we spread our 
feast by the brook, but they lingered after 
we started for the castle,” said another. 

“Why, look you! It is young Ardwell 
and Lady Erline, and who is that who pur- 


A SURPRISE 


19 


sues them?” cried a cavalier. “Let us 
hurry on and let them follow us over our 
drawbridge to the safety and shelter of 
Castle Conwell.” 

It was agreed, and the horses plunged 
forward, the man on the lookout tower gave 
the signal, the drawbridge was promptly 
lowered, and the party rode into the shelter 
of those massive stone walls, their swords 
and spurs clanking, the Lady Erline, and 
her escort closely following. 

“Safe!” cried the girl, the color coming 
back to her cheeks. 

Suddenly outside arose a great shout, and 
much commotion. 

“Oh, what has happened?” cried Lady 
Erline, turning to young Ardwell. “You 
know, he shouted for us to stop, but we 
raced over the drawbridge, and into the 
castle!” 


20 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


A servant peeped through a loophole, and 
there, sure enough, were horse and rider 
struggling in the moat. 

The rival cavalier, blind with anger, had 
attempted to drive his horse on to the draw¬ 
bridge, that he, too, might be admitted to 
the castle, but immediately the girl and her 
lover had entered, the drawbridge had been 
lifted, and he who strove to cross it, had 
landed, horse and rider, in the moat. 

He was not badly hurt, but he was an¬ 
grier than before, and the pain from many 
bruises did not lessen his wrath. 

He was a bold, lawless fellow, and you 
may be sure, after the servants had helped 
him out, and the horse had been, with much 
difficulty, gotten out as well, he was told to 
go his way, and go quickly, unless he wished 
to be assisted vigorously. 

With much help, he mounted his horse, 


A SURPRISE 


21 


and rode away muttering that he would re¬ 
turn and force the beautiful Lady Erline to 
be his bride. 

“Oh, did he, Father?” Dorothy asked 
eagerly. 

“He intended to keep his vow,” Mr. 
Dainty said, “but when, a few weeks later, 
he came to the castle and demanded admis¬ 
sion he was refused. 

“ ‘Stand aside!’ he shouted to the servant. 
“I will not let any manservant stand in my 
way. I have long admired the beautiful 
Lady Erline, and I have come now to make 
her my bride!’ 

“ ‘I fear me, you are too late,’ said the 
manservant. 

1 ‘ ‘ Too late! Too late! What mean you, 
lout?’ 

“ ‘I mean that the Lady Erline, a month 
ago, became the bride of young Andreas 


22 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


Ardwell, who since his older brother was lost 
at sea, has assumed the title and vast estates, 
and the couple are now known as Lord and 
Lady Glenmore, of Castle Glenmore. ’ 

“There appeared to be nothing more to 
be said or done, so the cavalier mounted his 
horse, and rode away at top speed.” 

“And they lived happily ever after? 
Did they, as the fairy tales always say, 
‘live happily ever after?’ ” Dorothy asked 
eagerly. 

“It is said that they were an exceedingly 
happy couple, and that the bad cavalier was 
never seen nor heard from after the day 
that the servant saw him ride swiftly away 
from the castle,” Mr. Dainty said, smiling 
to see the look of quick relief in Dorothy’s 
blue eyes. 

“I like to have stories end happily,” she 
said, “and I was glad to know that the bad 


A SURPRISE 


23 


cavalier didn’t come back with a band of 
horrid armed men to attack the castle.” 

“Or sneak back and hide in the woods 
until he saw them again riding out for a gay 
time, and then spring out and attack them,” 
said Nancy. 

“Father always tells cheerful stories 
after dinner,” Dorothy said. 

“I don’t believe in reading or recounting 
tragic stories just before bedtime,” Mr. 
Dainty said, “for fear that our dreams may 
be disturbed. I’m sure you would have 
been surprised if I had told a tale with a 
grim, unpleasant ending.” 

“We like surprises,” Dorothy said, “but 
not that kind.” 

“I think you and Nancy are to have a de¬ 
lightful surprise to-morrow,” Mrs. Dainty 
said. 

“Oh, tell us now!” they cried, springing 


24 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


from their cushions upon the floor, and tak¬ 
ing a coaxing position, one on either side of 
Mrs. Dainty’s chair. 

“Oh, surely not,” Mrs. Dainty said, 
laughing, “for then, when it actually hap¬ 
pens to-morrow, it will be no surprise at 
all.” 

“It would be a surprise now,” Nancy 
urged, but Mrs. Dainty was firm, and re¬ 
fused to tell. “Not a word to-night,” she 
said. “Wait until to-morrow, and then, 
I promise you, it will be a great surprise 
and delight. You will both he glad that 
you waited.” 

They talked of it before going to sleep, 
they woke early, and talked of it then, and 
in a pause in the conversation at the break¬ 
fast-table, Dorothy looked up to say, “The 
surprise hasn’t happened yet.” 


A SURPRISE 


25 


“Is it likely to happen any minute?” 
Nancy asked. 

“You may get so excited waiting that 
you will find it difficult to be patient, and so 
I will tell you that the delightful little hap¬ 
pening will occur shortly before noon, so 
what do you say to a long drive, if we are 
sure of returning in time?” Mrs. Dainty 
said. 

It was a lovely morning and Dorothy and 
Nancy thought it surely would be easier to 
wait while speeding over the road, than to 
sit, as Dorothy said, “Just waiting.” Mrs. 
Dainty laughed softly. 

“Couldn’t you do anything for amuse¬ 
ment, while you waited?” she asked, her 
eyes twinkling. 

“It would be hard to feel interested in 
anything, while I was watching the clock,” 
Dorothy said. 


26 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


The ride proved delightful, and the time 
surely sped faster than if the two had sat 
watching the clock, and wondering why the 
time went so slowly. 

They had spent three hours out on the 
sunny avenues, and were turning in at the 
driveway, when Mrs. Dainty glanced at her 
watch. 

“I think we shall find the surprise wait¬ 
ing for us,” she said, and when they reached 
the house, little Fluff came racing out to 
meet them, so excited that he could not keep 
all four of his little white paws on the 
ground at the same time, but hopped from 
one to the other, uttering little yelps of ex¬ 
citement and delight. 

“He knows something nice has happened, 
and he’s trying to tell us,” said Dorothy. 

He raced in before them, turning to learn 
if they were following him, and then duck- 


A SURPRISE 


27 


ing his head, rushed into the living-room, 
barking all the way. 

Dorothy and Nancy ran after him, and 
there on a low divan sat—Vera Vane! 

“Oh, Vera, dear!” cried Dorothy. 
“What a lovely surprise!” 

“Pm just as glad to see you, as Dorothy 
is,” cried Nancy, and then, from sheer ex¬ 
citement, the three little friends clasped 
hands and danced wildly around in a ring. 

“How long can you stay, Vera 7” Dorothy 
asked. 

Vera laughed and whirled around like a 
top. 

“I’ll be here to-day, and all day to-mor¬ 
row, but I go back to New York the next 
morning.” 

“Oh, Vera—!” cried Dorothy and Nancy, 
as if with one breath. 

“Oh, but Mother will come for me, and 


28 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


we are to take you two home with us for a 
lovely visit. Now, aren’t you surprised? 

“Mother came part way with me,” she ex¬ 
plained, “and one of Father’s friends was 
coming to Merrivale on business, and he 
finished the trip with me.” 


CHAPTER II 

WHAT VERA HEARD 

A FTER lunch, they showed Vera the 
beautiful little Treasure Chest, and 
Vera declared that she had never seen any 
Treasure Chest so lovely as this one that 
Dorothy so truly prized. 

“ Mother has one that my father brought 
home from abroad, and it would hold more 
than yours would, Dorothy, but it isn’t 
nearly so handsome,” said Vera, “and I’m 
going to send you a lovely little gift to be 
one of the things that you keep in it.” 

“Oh, Vera, you are dear!” cried Dorothy, 
drawing her closer. 

“It’s no use to ask what the gift will be, 
because I don’t know yet. It will be the 

29 


30 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

first lovely thing that I see that I am sure 
you will like to have,” Vera said. 

“Then it will be a surprise, and oh, I do 
so love surprises!” 

Vera was delighted with the new beauties 
that had been added to the great garden, 
and the three little friends spent the after¬ 
noon, in one part or another, of the grounds. 
There were so many winding paths lead¬ 
ing in so many directions. One sunny path 
led directly to the rose arbor, another to the 
new fountain, which was really an artificial 
lake with a fountain in the center, while a 
third led to a little stone pool, or basin for 
the birds, and, like a background for the 
little pool, tall lilies in full bloom swayed 
in the soft breeze. 

“In this wonderful garden I’m not sure 
which path I like best, because they all lead 
to something lovely to look at,” Vera said, 


WHAT VERA HEARD 


31 


“but I believe I like the fountain path 
best.” 

They followed that path, and came out at 
the far end of the garden, where a low seat 
looked as if waiting for them. 

For a time they sat talking of the trip 
to New York, and the pleasures that Mrs. 
Yane was planning for them. 

A moment after, Vera, without a word, 
darted away toward the house, and Dorothy 
looked at Nancy, as if too surprised to 
speak, while Nancy turned as if to watch a 
butterfly, but really to hide the fact that 
she was a bit annoyed. 

Vera was bright and full of life, usually 
good-tempered, and pleasant to be with, but 
she had a habit of being vexed over a small 
matter, and, as she was always darting here 
and there, one could never know whether 
she had raced off, hoping to be chased, or 


32 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


whether she was angry at some trifling 
thing. 

She came running back to them with a big 
box of bonbons that she had brought with 
her as a little gift, and her eyes were so 
bright, her smile so cheery, that Dorothy 
breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Vera wasn’t provoked that time,” she 
thought. 

“Let’s play ‘Hide-and-Seek,’ ” she said, 
“and have this seat for the goal, and the 
box of bonbons will help the one who is ‘it’ 
to be patient, while the others are hiding.” 

The garden had countless places to hide 
in, and Nancy insisted on being “it” first. 
Dorothy took the next turn, and then Vera 
perched upon the seat, while Dorothy and 
Nancy raced off toward a fine little nook in 
the forward part of the garden. Vera was 
to count five hundred, counting it “five-ten- 


WHAT VERA HEARD 33 

fifteen-twenty—,” without stopping until 
the five hundred was completed, but she 
stopped so often to nibble bonbons, that her 
counting did not progress rapidly. 

In their hiding-place, Dorothy and Nancy 
wondered why she did not come. 

6 i Twenty-five—thirty, thirty-five—forty, 
forty-five—fif ’—oh, but that is a lovely bon¬ 
bon. I’ll just eat that,” Vera said, softly, 
“and then I’ll— Why, who’s that talk¬ 
ing?” She spoke in a whisper. 

She dropped the bonbons as she sprang to 
her feet. Tall flowering plants and shrubs 
hid the stone wall, but she knew it was 
there, and from the other side of that hid¬ 
den wall came the sound of angry voices. 

At first she could not catch a word that 
was being said, and then suddenly she heard 
angry words clearly. 

“Do as I tell yer!” the voice commanded, 


34 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“an’ be quick about understands’ what 
I’m sayin’. You’re ter stay around here 
till you see R. D. cornin’, and do ye lay 
hands on him. Ketch him, I tell ye, an’ if 
ye must, don’t be afraid ter use the whip!” 

“R. D.! Why, that’s Dorothy’s father! 
His name is Rudolph! Oh, I must hurry 
and find Dorothy, and we’ll go up to the 
house and tell them, so the butler, the gar¬ 
dener, the groom, and the chauffeur can 
watch for him, and be on hand when he 
comes home, and not let those horrid old 
tramps do—” 

Up one path and down another she raced, 
calling; “Dorothy! Dorothy! Please come! 
Don’t wait for me to find you!” Of course 
Dorothy and Nancy came running to meet 
her. Vera often tired of one game, and 
coaxed them to play another, but as soon as 
they saw her, they knew that it was no 



From the other side of that hidden wall came the 
sound of angry voices.— Page 33. 



































































































































WHAT VERA HEARD 


35 


slight whim that had caused her to call them 
from their hiding-place. 

“Oh, don’t stop a minute! Come right 
up to the house. Some horrid men, just be¬ 
hind that high wall are hiding there, and 
they mean to do something just awful. 
They do! Oh, if you had heard them! 

“They said they would wait there until 
they saw ‘R. D.’ coming, and when they do 
catch him, they’re going to use the whip! 
And why do they want to do that to your 
father, I’d like to know!” 

Dorothy was staring at Vera, with a puz¬ 
zled look, and Nancy gazed at Vera as if she 
believed her to be crazy. 

“Oh, why don’t you see?” cried Vera, 
“Your father is ‘R. D.,’ isn’t he? He is 
Rudolph Dainty!” 

Then she fairly gasped, for Dorothy and 
Nancy had dropped upon the grass, and 


36 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

there they sat, rocking back and forth, 
laughing so hard that they could not say a 
word. 

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing!” cried 
Vera, “I’d not waste a moment if it was my 
father, and I guess— Well, I never! I 
just surely never—” 

Vera was too disgusted to say another 
word, and while she stood looking at the 
two wildly laughing children, Jack Tiver¬ 
ton came up the driveway. “Hello! Vera. 
Here for a visit? Well, what’s the great 
joke, and why aren’t you laughing, too, or 
don’t you see the joke?” 

“I don’t see it, and they can’t stop laugh¬ 
ing long enough to tell me,” Vera said. 

“Jack, did you see any men just outside 
the wall, when you came along?” Nancy 
said, between little hoots of laughter. 

“I saw big Tim Dolan, the huckster, and 


WHAT VERA HEARD 


37 


a crony of Ms, and, as usual they’re out 
hunting for ‘R. D.,’ as they call that stub¬ 
born old donkey that they drive, and 
they’re promising to use the whip pretty 
freely when they catch him, hut Tim Dolan 
just talks that way. He never touches him 
with a whip, although he is always vowing 
that he will. He really thinks the world of 
that donkey. 

“Well, Yera, you are laughing, now! 
Now, please tell me, girls, what the great 
joke is.” 

“I was so frightened,” cried Vera, “and 
I wondered that Dorothy and Nancy could 
laugh, for I had heard what those men were 
saying, and truly I thought they meant to 
lie in wait for Dorothy’s father.” 

It was Jack’s turn to look puzzled. 

“Why, how is that?” he asked. 

“They were talking about ‘R. D.,’ and 


38 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

Mr. Dainty’s first name is Rudolph.” 

‘ 4 Well, that was funny, ’’ Jack said. ‘ 4 No 
wonder you were startled for, as usual, they 
were talking as if they meant to punish the 
donkey for running away, but I can give 
you all a surprise, for to-day I found out 
what the donkey’s name really is. His 
name is Roderick Dhu, and big Tim short¬ 
ened it to R. D. to save time when he’s 
calling him.” 

It was Mr. Dainty’s turn to laugh 
when at dinner, Vera told him of her 
fright. 

“Well, well, Vera!” he said, “You’re 
Dorothy’s firm friend, and Nancy’s friend, 
too, but now I know that you are my little 
friend, as well.” 

“I surely am,” Vera replied, in a low 
tone, hardly more than a whisper, and they 
knew that she ‘did not say it lightly. 


WHAT VERA HEARD 


39 


They werer up early the next morning. 

“We’ll have a long, long day to enjoy,” 
Dorothy said, and they crowded a lot of 
pleasure into that day. 

Mrs. Yane was to arrive early in the eve¬ 
ning, and after dinner they sat swinging in 
the hammock, Vera recounting the “de¬ 
lights,” as she called the day’s happenings. 
“I want to tell Mother all about it, so I’m 
going to tell it this way: 

“ ‘Surprised Dorothy and Nancy by being 
at the Stone House when they came in from 
a ride. 

“ ‘Lived in the lovely garden, just simply 
lived in it, got scared over a big, big mys¬ 
tery, and being scared was fun!’ 

“Next day: 

“ ‘Up early enough to hear the birds sing, 
and to see little Fluff racing around after 
them, and barking to stop them. 


40 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


u ‘Went over to Flossie Barnet’s to 
lunch, had a fine time. 

“ 4 Raced back to the Stone House, and 
sailed toy boats on the new pond that has a 
fountain in the center. We had a boat-race 
and Jack Tiverton’s boat beat mine, but it 
wasn’t showing any signs of beating until 
he went up to the house, and came back with 
the bellows from the fireplace, and actually 
New his boat ahead. Who couldn’t beat 
that way?’ 

“That’s the way I’ll tell her,” Vera said 
laughing, a roguish twinkle in her eyes. 

“I’ll tell her, too, that I like Jack so much 
that I didn’t mind when his boat won the 
race, and I’ll tell her,—oh, hark! No, don’t 
stop to hark, just look! There’s your car 
coming up the avenue, and Mother is wav¬ 
ing her handkerchief!” 

Mrs. Vane had taken an earlier train 


WHAT VERA HEARD 


41 


than the one on which she had promised to 
arrive, and Mrs. Dainty was delighted, be¬ 
cause there would be a fine evening in which 
to talk of all sorts of happenings that had 
filled the months since they were last to¬ 
gether. 

The three little friends grew so sleepy 
listening to the “grown-ups” that, after a 
time, they ran off to bed, where they tried 
to talk of the fine trip of the morrow, but 
fell asleep before Vera had nearly finished 
telling half of the good times that she had 
planned for them. 

The next day dawned bright and sunny, 
and the three awoke early. Vera proposed 
making a tent of the sheet, and playing that 
they were camping. 

“What will keep your tent up, so it will 
stand?” Nancy asked. 

“Oh, that’s easy,” Vera replied, “I can 


42 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

put my foot ’way up and keep the sheet 
up—” 

The maid entered just then, and down 
came the wonderful tent. 

“I was sent to call you, and indeed you 
must hurry, for you three are to be ready 
to take the early train for New York.” 

“Oh, Sue!” cried Nancy, “Stay and help 
us find some of our things, will you?” 

“Please, Sue!” pleaded Dorothy. 

“I’d help you gladly, but I’ve twenty 
things that I must do to make sure you get 
off in time, and Ill have to run along now,” 
and off she went. 

They soon were chasing each other down 
the broad stairway, and they could hardly 
be coaxed to more than taste breakfast, so 
excited were they. 


CHAPTER III 

AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


E VERY one was helping, every one was 
hustling, but with all the loving as¬ 
sistance, they reached the station in time 
to board the train, and with just one minute 
to spare! 

It was an express train, and it raced over 
the rails at such a rate of speed that the 
trip, a short one at any time, seemed brief 
indeed. All out-of-doors had appeared to 
be flying past the windows, so blurred that 
not a single object could be clearly seen. 
Usually it was fun to look from the win¬ 
dows, but that was when they could really 
see the trees and flowers, the lakes and 
rivers that they passed. They were glad 


43 


44 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


when they left the train, and yet more glad 
when they arrived at Vera’s home. 

It was not their first visit, but there were 
many new things to enjoy. There were 
paintings, recently purchased, there was a 
newly furnished music-room, and Vera had 
some new games, to be played indoors, 
games that were “no end of fun,” she said. 
They were a bit tired with their little jour¬ 
ney, and they enjoyed the pictures and the 
games, well knowing that if they were con¬ 
tent to spend the afternoon of the first day 
quietly they would have plenty of pleasures 
planned for the remainder of their visit. 

In the late afternoon they drove through 
Central Park, and Dorothy and Nancy 
thought it more beautiful than ever. So 
many delightful things they saw, that they 
began to wonder how much of all that they 
had seen, would remain so clearly in their 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 45 

minds that they could describe it when they 
returned to Merrivale. 

“The Park was lovely/’ Dorothy said, 
“I’d like to see it again.” 

“You surely will,” said Yera. 

“And wasn’t Riverside Drive very 
grand ?” said Nancy. 

“And the Museum,” said Vera, “isn’t the 
Metropolitan Museum a handsome build¬ 
ing?” 

“Oh, yes,” agreed Dorothy, “and isn’t 
that near your house?” 

“So near home,” Mrs. Vane said, “that 
you and Nancy and Yera may go over there 
to-morrow and see the pictures, while I am 
busy writing some letters that have long 
been neglected, and for the evening, I have 
invited some boys and girls over for a gen¬ 
eral good time.” 

“And my brother is coming back from a 


46 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


camping trip, and he’ll be wild to see you 
and Nancy. He’ll be here to-night, and 
he’ll tell us all about the long hikes he’s 
been taking. Will you and Nancy like to 
hear that? Oh, I know you will, Dorothy, 
because Bob likes you. Oho! You’re 
blushing, but, Dorothy, don’t think I’ve for¬ 
gotten how Rob used to tell you all about 
his fishing trips, and you used to try to be 
interested.” 

“I didn’t have to try, because I truly was 
interested,” Dorothy said, blushing. 

6 ‘Rob has a new chum, now,” Yera re¬ 
marked. “The one he had last year went 
home to a little Western town, and now Rob 
doesn’t care to go anywhere, do anything, 
or I might almost say, turn around unless 
Ned Brewster is with him.” 

“Do you like Ned Brewster?” Nancy 
asked. 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


47 


“I don’t know, because lie’s a boy that 
Eob met while he was camping, and he’s go¬ 
ing to bring him home with him to-night,” 
Vera replied. 

There was a surprise awaiting them when 
they reached home, for as they drew up at 
the curb, the door opened and out rushed 
Eob, a very darkly tanned Eob, followed 
by a quiet, blue-eyed lad, who hesitated, as 
if to let Eob greet his mother, before pre¬ 
senting his new friend. 

“It’s good to be home again, Mother, to 
have home and you, after the fine summer 
at the camp. How’s Dad? Aha! Thistle¬ 
down! So you didn’t blow away before 
reaching the Stone House, as I so cleverly 
predicted. And Dorothy, sitting ’way back 
in a shadowy corner! Lean forward and 
let me see you, and Nancy, too. Surely 
you’ve not forgotten me?” 


48 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“We couldn’t forget you, Rob,” Dorothy 
said, “for you were always nice to us, as 
nice as if we were boys.” 

“Oh, finer than that,” said Nancy. 

Rob blushed a bit under his tan. He had 
helped Vera to entertain Dorothy and 
Nancy on previous visits and it was good to 
know that they had remembered. 

“Come on, Ned, and begin to be one of 
the family. Mother, this is my chum, Ned 
Brewster. Ned, I insist that you and 
Mother become firm friends.” 

“We are, already,” Mrs. Vane said, tak¬ 
ing Ned’s hand that he shyly offered. 

“And this is my sister, Vera, or Thistle¬ 
down. I use both names, and you can do 
the same.” 

“I’ll give you both my hands,” Vera said, 
“because Rob is so fond of you.” 

“These are two of the best girls, Dorothy 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


49 


Dainty, and her chum, Nancy Ferris. Girls, 
this is Ned Brewster, the best chum I ever 
had.” 

Ned appeared quite overcome at being in¬ 
troduced to so many new friends. He was 
friendly at heart, but very shy with girls, 
but at dinner Mr. Vane was so jolly that 
they soon were laughing and talking to¬ 
gether. 

Rob told of some droll happenings at 
camp, and before he knew it, Ned had been 
drawn into the general chatter, and told 
some tales quite as comical as any that Rob 
had told. 

After dinner they played games and it 
was odd how it always happened that Rob 
played with Dorothy for partner, while shy 
Ned Brewster seemed to get on wonderfully 
in the game if Nancy played on his side. 

And while the game progressed, Vera, at 


50 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

the piano, played one flighty, lilting melody 
after another. 

“I’ll keep right on playing until there’s 
a big victory,” she said. 

Thus far the couples had come out about 
even, but after a time Vera heard Rob say: 

“We ought to have the prize, Dorothy, 
for this time we’ve beaten Ned and Nancy 
ten to one. Say, Vera! Play something 
that will sound victorious.” 

“Play the ‘Triumphant March,’ ” said 
Mr. Yane, “and we’ll march to the dining¬ 
room, for your mother tells me there’s some¬ 
thing cool out there that we’ll all enjoy.” 

“All right, Father, and then you can 
escort me out to join them. Just now I’m 
the orchestra.” 

The little group about the table enjoyed 
the ices that awaited them, and Ned Brew¬ 
ster for the first time felt absolutely “at 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 51 

home” with these bright, cheery new 
friends who had given him so warm a wel¬ 
come. They already seemed like old ac¬ 
quaintances. 

The next morning Rob took Ned over to 
Central Park to see the Zoo, and then went 
with him to the great aquarium, two places 
that Ned had said he greatly wished to see. 

Vera, Dorothy, and Nancy went over to 
the Metropolitan Museum, and for a time 
they kept together. They were very fond 
of pictures, and saw so many that they ad¬ 
mired that they could not decide if there 
were any single picture that they preferred 
to all the others. 

Wandering about, they came to a room in 
which were displayed many kinds of quaint 
musical instruments, and especially they 
liked a fine old spindle-legged spinet. 

Vera ventured to touch the yellowed keys, 


52 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


but its tinkling tones echoed through the 
room, and the three ran to the hall, fearing 
that a custodian would hurry after them and 
reprove them. 

“I know one picture that I always like to 
see, but I’ve not noticed it to-day, although 
it seems to me that weVe been through all 
the rooms. Where did I see that little 
painting ?” 

Vera stood a moment thinking. 

“And I’m trying to think just where I 
saw a lovely statue,” said Dorothy. “It 
wasn’t one of the large ones, but I don’t re¬ 
member its name, so I’ve no idea which way 
to go to find it.” 

“There’s a stairway I want to see again,” 
Nancy said, “it was grand.” 

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” said Vera. 
“I’ll go back and look for the little picture; 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


53 


you go through the rooms where the statu- 
ary is, Dorothy, and find the lovely statue; 
and Nancy can have a hunt for the stairway, 
and then we’ll meet, and run home to¬ 
gether.” 

So each started off to find an object that 
she wished again to see, and then, after a 
time, each one of the girls was wildly 
searching for the other two. 

From one gallery to another, from one 
end of the great building to the other, in 
haste they sped, each one searching for the 
other two, the three never meeting. 

At last, becoming vexed, Vera finding her¬ 
self near the main entrance, left the build¬ 
ing, and hurried home. 

“Where’s Mother?” she asked when the 
man let her in. 

“Up-stairs, Miss Vera,” he replied. 


54 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


Rushing up to Mrs. Vane’s room, she 
flew in at the door, and tossed her hat on 
the bed, saying: 

“I never knew Dorothy or Nancy to do 
anything to tease me, but this time they’ve 
done just that. They’ve hidden from me 
somewhere in the Museum. I shouldn’t 
wonder if they were peeping from behind 
some big statue, and giggling when they 
saw me leave!” 

“I don’t think Dorothy Dainty or Nancy 
Ferris ever did a mean little thing like 
that,” said Mrs. Vane. 

She was a pretty, weak-willed woman, 
who did her best to spoil Vera, and usually 
sided with her, but this time she knew that 
Vera was vexed and hasty and wrong. 

Vera was really annoyed, and she sat very 
still for several minutes, a most unusual 
thing for her to do. 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


55 


There was no such thing as guessing how 
long she might have sat there, her mind filled 
with most unpleasant thoughts, but just at 
that moment some one was admitted who 
raced along the great hall toward the stair¬ 
way. 

Mrs. Vane went out into the upper hall 
just in time to see Dorothy rushing up the 
stairs. 

“Oh, Mrs. Vane!” she cried, “I’ve hunted 
and hunted through the galleries, and I can’t 
find either Nancy or Vera! What can have 
happened to them? They’d not go off and 
leave me, so where can they be?” 

Her eyes were filled with tears, as she 
clung to Mrs. Vane, in nervous terror. 

“Why, Dorothy, dear, you are really 
frightened, but Vera is here. She searched 
for you and Nancy, and came home vexed, 
because she could not find you, and she 


56 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

mistakenly thought that you two were hid¬ 
ing from her. I told her she was wrong.” 

“Oh, truly, we never for a moment hid,” 
said Dorothy, “but where is my Nancy! 
Just where is she?” she repeated, her eyes 
wide with terror. 

“Oh, Mrs. Vane, I wouldn’t be so fright¬ 
ened, only we never let her go anywhere 
alone, since the time that she was stolen 
from us by her old Uncle Steve, and made 
to dance on the stage. We three started 
out together, and here am I, and Vera is 
here, but where is my Nancy? Something 
must be—” 

“I’ll go at once, and see if she still is look¬ 
ing for you two.” 

She saw that while Dorothy’s fear was 
probably groundless, she was really suffer¬ 
ing with anxiety for Nancy’s safety. As 
she stood before her mirror, pinning her 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


57 


hat, something of Dorothy’s fear came to 
her, and snatching her gloves, she hurried 
down-stairs. 

They were in her care during their visit, 
and she was earnestly wishing that she had 
gone to the Museum with them, when, as 
she reached the lower hall, she heard swift 
footsteps just outside the door. 

Was it Nancy? 

She opened the door, and in rushed 
Nancy, her brown eyes wide, her hat 
clutched tightly in her hand. 

“I can’t find either Dorothy or Vera!” 
she cried, “and I’ve hunted till I’m nearly 
wild! Please, please Mrs. Vane, come and 
help me find them.” 

“There, there, Nancy, they’re both here, 
as worried about you, as you are about them. 
Come up and let them see that you are safe 
and sound. Dorothy really thinks—” 


58 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Oh, Nancy, Nancy!” cried Dorothy, who 
had heard her voice, and raced to the stair¬ 
way to meet her. “You weren’t lost after 
all!” 

“No, and neither were you,” gasped 
Nancy, now all joy and gladness. 

“Come to the living-room, and tell me all 
about the wonderful ‘Hunting Party,’ ” 
said Mrs. Yane. 

“What did you call it, Mother?” Vera 
asked. “Did you say we had a ‘Hunting 
Party’? I don’t s'ee why you call it that, 
for we were over in the Museum all the time, 
and in the picture Father values so, the 
hunters are wearing red coats, and they are 
mounted on fine horses, and riding across 
fields, and over walls and fences.” 

“But wasn’t it a nice hunting party?” 
Mrs. Vane asked, laughing. “You, Vera 


AN ODD HUNTING PARTY 


59 


were hunting for Dorothy and Nancy. 
Dorothy was hunting for you and Nancy, 
while Nancy was hunting for you and Doro¬ 
thy ! What was it, really, but a droll hunt¬ 
ing party?” 

“We didn’t begin hunting for each 
other,” Vera explained. “I wanted to find 
a little painting that I think is lovely, and 
Dorothy saw a fine statue soon after we went 
in, and after we’d been in several rooms, 
she tried again to find it.” 

“And I saw stairways,” said Nancy, “but 
not the one I was looking for. The one I 
wanted to find was one I saw when I was 
here before, and oh, it was wonderful. It 
was carved in stone or marble, I don’t re¬ 
member which, but I do know it had all sorts 
of lovely flowers on its fine baluster, and on 
great pillars were flowers and vines, and 


60 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


birds and butterflies, and little animals run¬ 
ning in and out among the carved foliage. 
I don’t see why I couldn’t find it.” 

“I know the beauty of that stairway, 
Nancy,” said Mrs. Vane, “but I am not sur¬ 
prised that you couldn’t find it.” 

“Why?” questioned Nancy. 

“Because,” Mrs. Vane said, “you were 
looking for it in the Metropolitan Museum 
in New York, and the wonderful stairway 
that you so clearly remember, you saw when 
we took you to Albany. That grand stair¬ 
way is in the Capitol.” 

“Well, no wonder I couldn’t find it,” said 
Nancy, joining in the laughter at her ex¬ 
pense. 


CHAPTER IV 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


W HILE Dorothy and Nancy were en¬ 
joying their visit at Vera’s home, 
a new, self-styled “Academy” had hung out 
its sign in Merrivale. On the day after it 
first appeared in the window, Patricia Le¬ 
vine stood leaning over the low fence at the 
rear of her home. She lived at the far end 
of the town, in a dingy old house, on the cor¬ 
ner of a dingy old street. 

Patricia’s aunt owned the house, and Pa¬ 
tricia lived with her. 

She would have lived in a better house 
and on a better street if she had been con¬ 
sented to remain at home, but her father 
insisted that she attend school. Patricia 


61 


62 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

dreaded to have school begin. She was lazy, 
and because nothing could be learned with¬ 
out trying, she decided that she would spend 
no more time trying. She thought it would 
be charming if she might attend school when 
she chose, study only what she could easily 
learn, and also choose her hours for coming 
and going. 

The hens were cackling in the coop, and 
her two dogs, Algernon and Lionel, were 
romping around her, inviting her to play 
with them. 

She was wondering how she would spend 
the afternoon, and where she would spend 
it, and with which one of the girls that she 
knew. She paid no heed to the barking 
dogs. Her mind was full of the new pink 
dress that lay spread out upon her bed. 

“I think I’ll go over to Arabella’s. If 
Dorothy was at home now I’d stop there just 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


63 


a minute, on my way. Arabella is dull for 
a whole afternoon, so I’ll— Now who in 
this world is that?” 

A tall, thin man had opened the front 
gate, and was walking up the path toward 
the front door. He had neither bag nor 
parcel, so Patricia decided that he was not 
a book-agent. 

“I’ll go in softly, and find out what he 
wants, or what he is trying to sell. Gee! 
He’d have a hard time selling anything to 
Auntie!” she whispered as she crept along 
the little dining-room, keeping close to the 
wall, that she might not be seen, for the 
parlor door stood ajar. 

She giggled softly at the thought of the 
man in there, who she believed was trying 
to coax her aunt to purchase something, but 
the first thing that she heard stopped all de¬ 
sire to laugh! 


64 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Yes, madam, I understand your posi¬ 
tion, and I realize that the little girl is wil¬ 
ful, and thinks, because you are not her 
mother, she can do as she pleases, but,—” 

“Oh, that don’t make no odds,” was the 
hasty interruption, “she don’t mind her ma 
no better nor she does me!” 

“And I can only repeat that this year she 
must attend school, by order of the Chair¬ 
man of the School Board.” 

“An’ I kin also repeat wot I said that I 
can’t make her go to school. If I send her, 
I ain’t sure she ’rives at school, an’ I’ve got 
entirely too much ter do ter foller her. If 
the char-man kin take a board or a stick to 
her, an make her go ter school, he’s welcome 
ter do so.” 

“Well, madam,—” 

Patricia waited to hear no more. She 
crept softly but quickly from the house, 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


65 


raced through the open gateway, out on to 
the street, and up the main road, never stop¬ 
ping until she stood before an old brick 


TkwaJcPuPi ls 
Ca.rtfvL LL f 

in all 

^BRan.cb e<5 


house in whose front window was a card 
that she had read many times, always won¬ 
dering just what it meant. 

The clumsy, uneven lettering proclaimed 
the sign “home-made,” but Patricia did not 



66 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

think of that, and running up the steps in 
frantic haste, she rang the bell. 

A colored maid-of-all-work opened the 
door. 

“Who does yer want ter see?” she asked, 
none too well pleased to be called from her 
work to answer the bell. 

“Oh, please let me come in!” cried Pa¬ 
tricia. 

“Not till I knows what you wants, Sissy,” 
the maid declared firmly. 

“Why, how can I know who to ask for, 
when I don’t know their names? All I 
know is that I want to come here for les¬ 
sons, instead of going to school.” 

“Well, that do sure make a diff’ence, an’ 
I’ll speak to de ladies,” said the maid, and 
she let Patricia enter, leaving her in the cool 
little parlor, while she shuffled through the 
narrow hall to a back room. 



* 




yJBi ooks 


“Oh, please let me come in!” cried Patricia.— Page 66 

























• ■ 
































A QUEER SCHOOL 


67 


A few moments later she returned, and 
peeped in at the door. 

“De ladies will be widjer in a minute, an’ 
dey’ll be glad ter give yer all de incarnation 
yer wants!” 

Any other child would have longed to 
laugh, but Patricia so often used words in¬ 
correctly that she did not notice anything 
droll in what the maid had said. 

Patricia sat on the edge of the seat of a 
chair much too high for her, and she was 
just beginning to wonder how much longer 
she would have to wait, when along the hall 
came a very short woman and a very tall 
woman. Both were very thin, very prim, 
and very sober-faced. 

They seated themselves on the edge of the 
sofa, and stared at Patricia, until she began 
to be nervous. 

Then the tall, thin woman spoke: 


68 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“We teach everything ,” was her bold 
statement. 

“What do you wish to learn ?” the short, 
thin woman asked. 

“I don’t know. It’s hard to choose,” 
Patricia faltered. 

“We combine the Arts, Science, Lan¬ 
guages, and a knowledge of housekeep¬ 
ing such as few schools offer. Here is a 
list, a portion of the things that we teach,” 
said the tall one, rising and turning a big 
card that had a colored map upon it. 

Its reverse side displayed a most peculiar 
list, and from it they read in turn, as if they 
believed that Patricia could not read for 
herself. 

“Listen to this: 

“ ‘ Music, Multiplication, and Mop¬ 

ping.’ ” 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


69 


“And this,” said the short woman, 
Drawing, Division, and Dusting.’” 

“ ‘Art, Addition, and Aesthetics.’ ” 

“ ‘French, Fractions, and Fancy- 
Work.’ ” 

“ ‘German, Geometry, and Grace.’ ” 

“ ‘Spanish, Science, and Scrubbing.’ ” 
They read in turn, accenting the “and” 
that joined a branch of housework to the 
more interesting themes. 

Being very lazy, this did not please Pa¬ 
tricia. 

“I don’t want to study all those poky old 
things, ’specially the mopping and dusting 
and the scrubbing. I know how to do those 
things, so I’ll not do any of them. S’pose 
I take Music, and,—well,—Addition,— 
and—er—French to begin with, what will 
that cost me?” 


70 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


The two women whispered together for a 
moment and then concluded that four dol¬ 
lars a week would be right. 

“That’s only three things you’ll have to 
teach me, and we can get ’Rithm’tic, Read¬ 
ing, Writing, Spelling, Geog’erphy, and 
History for nothing at the regular school. 
I wouldn’t pay four dollars a week to 
come here. P’raps you meant four dollars 
a month . Did you % ’ ’ Patricia asked pertly. 

Again they whispered, and then decided 
that four dollars a month must have been 
what they meant. 

“Then I’ll be here Monday morning at 
nine o’clock,” said Patricia. 

Again the tall woman bent her spare 
frame, and the two whispered. 

“We think ten o’clock is early enough to 
begin study,” declared the short woman. 

“Well, I don’t!” Patricia said, stoutly. 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


71 


“ They ’re trying to make me go to public 
school where I have to learn a batch of stuff 
I hate, and I’m bound I’ll not go there, but 
if I’m not on my way to school in time on 
the first day, the char-m an of the some- 
thing-or-other, will be over after me. I’m 
sure of that, so I’ll have to come at nine.” 

The two women, eager to secure a pupil, 
agreed that nine o’clock was the exact time 
for Patricia. 

‘ 4 Good-by,” she said, as she ran down the 
steps, “I’ll be here Monday at nine.” 

She need not hurry now. She was going 
to school, where she knew that she could ar¬ 
range hours to suit herself. 

“I don’t want to study at all, but if I 
must y then I’m glad I’ve found a place 
where I can do as I like. I told them nine 
instead of ten, and they said that was all 
right, so I just know I can leave there any 


72 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

time I choose, ’leven o’clock, if I want 
to.” 

She laughed softly, believing that she had 
done a clever thing. Foolish little Patri¬ 
cia! Glad to evade study, and thus make 
sure of being ignorant! 

She strolled along chuckling to think how 
smart she had been, when a thought came to 
her that made her stop. The place that she 
was to talk of as a “School” had no name, 
and her aunt would surely ask the name of 
the school that she had chosen to attend. 

“She won’t believe me if I tell her it 
hasn’t a name, and p’r’aps it has. O dear! 
What a nuisance, but I’ll have to go back.” 

She turned about, and ran back to the 
little house. There was a seat by the door. 
Hearing footsteps in the little hall, Patricia 
waited. 

The tall woman peeped out. 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


73 


“Did you leave something?” she asked, 
loc ung through her spectacles, and then 
over them. 

“Oh, no, but what is the name of your 
school? My aunt will surely ask me,” said 
Patricia. 

“My dear, you have enrolled as a pupil 
at the Art-o-Lang Academy. Art-o-Lang, 
because we teach Art and Languages,” the 
lady said, pompously. 

“That’s a pretty name, and I’m glad you 
didn’t put ‘mop’ in the name, or ‘scrub,’ for 
that would have just spoiled it.” 

The tall woman looked sharply at Patri¬ 
cia to see if she were trying to be 
“funny,” but Patricia did not look as if she 
were amused, so the tall lady said nothing, 
and once more Patricia strolled toward 
home. 

As she turned the corner, Patricia saw 


74 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

that her aunt was standing in the doorway, 
shielding her eyes with her hand. 

“Oo-hoo!” hooted Patricia. 

‘ ‘ You come right home without stoppin’ 
ter hoot!” was the tart reply, “an’ when 
I’ve told ye who called here this morning I 
guess ye’ll conclude ter go ter school, an’ I 
mean ye shall, as sure as my name is Mary 
Ann Boggins!” 

“I wish it wasn’t!” declared Patricia. 
“I never tell any one. I just say, ‘My 
aunt.’ ” 

“Well, of all the notions! Why, Patri¬ 
cia, your middle name is Boggins!” 

“I wish you wouldn’t say it so loud,” said 
Patricia. “Bid you ever see me write that 
horrid old name? I guess you never did. 
‘Patricia Boggins Levine’ sounds great, 
doesn’t it!” 

“Never mind about the name. You come 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


75 


right in, an’ le’me tell you, you’ll go to 
school Monday!” 

“Sure, I will,” Patricia replied, cheer¬ 
fully. “I’m a pupil at the ‘ Orter-Long- 
’Cad’my,’ and I’ll be going there every 
day!” 

Mrs. Boggins sat down on a low stool, and 
stared at her niece. 

“How long have you b’longed to the 
Auto-Lung What-you-call-it, an’ where is 
it? I never heard of it.” 

“It’s near the square, on a little short 
street, and they teach all sorts of things. 
That’s one reason I’m going there, and the 
other is that I want to.” 

“That’s your reason for doing most 
things,” said Mrs. Boggins. “What does it 
cost?” 

“Pour dollars a month, and that’s reason¬ 
able for a el’gant new private school.” 


76 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“It’s a grand bargain if it will keep yon 
off the streets,’’ said Mrs. Boggins, “a 
grand bargain!” 

She sighed with relief for she had ex¬ 
pected to hear Patricia refuse to go to 
school. 

“Thank goodness I won’t have to either 
push or drag her to school,” she whispered 
on her way to the little kitchen, adding, a 
moment later, “that is, I won’t have to as 
long as this latest notion lasts, an’ no one 
could tell how long that would be. She 
might like the new school well ’nough ter go 
there ten weeks, an’ then again, she might 
get ’nough of it in ten days,—yes, or even in 
ten minutes, if things didn’t go to suit her. 
Land sakes! The soup has boiled over 
whilst I’ve been talkin’. Patricia! Patri¬ 
cia! Off again, jest when I want her.” 

At that moment Patricia had caught, 


< 


A QUEER SCHOOL 


77 


sight of a pup, a trifle less attractive than 
the two she already owned, and was trying 
to coax him inside the gateway. 

Neither Algernon nor Lionel had enough 
spunk to object to the newcomer, but they 
looked disapproval, and the pup felt 
shy. 

“Come in, you lovely puppy. Oh, if 
Auntie will let me keep you I’ll call you 
1 Fairy,’ you’re so very cute! I wonder 
if I’d better ask her if I can keep you, or 
just keep you?” 

The puppy, delighted with her caresses, 
jumped at her as she knelt on the grass, 
and licked her hands, all the time uttering 
little yelps of delight. He felt that she ad¬ 
mired him, and he at once decided that here 
was the home for which he had been look¬ 
ing. 

“If I ask her, prob’ly she’ll say ‘no,’ but 


78 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

if I just keep you, maybe she’ll fuss a while, 
and then 4 give in’!” 

Patricia knew that the two dogs that she 
already had, annoyed her aunt, but she did 
not care. She was wholly selfish, and 
thought only of pleasing herself. Patricia 
caught the fat little pup, and holding him 
so that he stood on his stubby hind legs, she 
gave him much-needed advice, good advice, 
but he only listened because he could not get 
away. His wee eyes twinkled. His little 
red tongue hung out and he looked as if the 
whole thing were already decided, and he 
was laughing to think how lucky he 
was. 

44 Fairy!” cried Patricia. 

44 Wow!” he replied. 

44 Oh, you cunning pet!” she whispered in 
his ear. 

“Wow! Yi, yi! Wow! Wow!” he re- 


A QUEER SCHOOL 79 

sponded, and Lionel and Algernon yelped 
in chorus. 

“Patricia! Pa-tri-cia! Come in and 
help me!” shouted her aunt, rushing to the 
back door. 

“What’s all this racket, and where on 
airth did that pup come from?” 

“He came here to me, and he’s going to 
stay!” Patricia said. 

“Now, look-a-here! I can’t stand an¬ 
other critter on the place, ’specially a dog.” 

“You’ve thirty old hens a cacklin’ their 
heads off, an’ I’ve only three dogs. I’m 
sure that’s not much!” 

“But Patricia!” whined Mrs. Boggins. 

“I’m goin’ ter keep him!” shouted Patri¬ 
cia, “and let him sleep on my bed. I’ve 
named him already, so he’s mine.” 

“Oh, such a child! I do declare, I wish 
your mother’d keep you with her. Does it 


80 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

occur to ye, that yer ma, livin’ in a flat in 
New York, wouldn’t let ye lug in every 
stray dog ye chance ter see?” 

“I know that, and that’s one of the rea¬ 
sons why I’d rather stay here. If you want 
to call him any time, I’ll tell you now, his 
name is, ‘Fairy.’ ” 

“The name fits him ’bout as well as 
’twould fit a cow. Fairy! That fat little 
critter would answer ter ‘Dumplin’,’ an’ the 
name would fit. Well, come in an’ help me 
now,” she concluded, and returned to the 
kitchen. She said no more about the 
puppy, for she believed that when Patricia 
went in, he would run out of the yard as 
quickly as he had come in, and that would 
end the matter. 

Patricia had no intention of being so 
careless. The hens were roaming about the 
yard, and hastily Patricia shut him into the 
empty coop. 


CHAPTER V 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


“rTlHE days are just flying!” Vera said 
A one afternoon. “'You’ve been here 
nearly two weeks, and it doesn’t seem much 
more than two days.” 

Vera dreaded to have them go. 

“It has gone swiftly for us, because 
we’ve been having such a wonderful time,” 
said Dorothy. 

“There’s never a dull minute if Vera is 
around,” Nancy said, laughing. 

“That’s because I don’t like dull min¬ 
utes,” Vera said. “What’s the use of dull¬ 
ness'?” 

She whirled about on her toes like a little 
human top. 


81 


82 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“That’s right, Thistledown,” cried Rob, 
who had just come in, “keep things stirring. 
Whew, but you have a lively pace!” 

“Well, who’d care to be poky!” cried 
Vera, and then after another whirl, she 
paused before Dorothy. 

“Dorothy dear,” she said, “you told me 
last night that you and Nancy must go back 
to the Stone House this week, but couldn’t 
you, please, stay longer'?” 

“We couldn’t, Vera, truly we couldn’t,” 
Dorothy replied, “for school opens on Mon¬ 
day and we must leave here on Saturday.” 

“O dear! I detest dates for doing any¬ 
thing!” declared Vera. “I never can re¬ 
member dates in history. I know in that 
last history lesson we had the day before 
school closed last June, the date I couldn’t 
remember about was 1607. 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


83 


: 4 Well, you may laugh, but all I know 
about 1607 is that it’s either the year Amer¬ 
ica was discovered, or else it’s the year that 
old Peter Stuyvesant was governor, but I’m 
not a bit sure which.” 

Dorothy and Nancy were laughing—how 
could they help it—and Rob, who, although 
he had been reading, had heard Vera’s 
statement, looked up to say: 

“That’s pretty good, Vera, but are you 
sure that 1607 isn’t the year of the signing 
of the Declaration of Independence?” 

“I don’t think that’s right, but I’m not 
sure,” she said doubtfully. 

4 ‘Why aren’t you sure?” Rob asked in a 
teasing tone, his eyes twinkling. 

“Because,” Vera said sharply, “I don’t 
even remember if we ever had a history les¬ 
son about that.” 


84 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“About what?” Rob teased. 

“The decoration of a sixpence!” cried 
Vera. 

‘ ‘ Vera! Vera! What is all this about ? ’’ 
asked Mrs. Vane who had just entered. 

“Rob always remembers every old thing 
in history, and he laughs at me because I 
don’t.” 

“Robert ” Mrs. Vane said. 

“But, Mother, Vera needs a private tutor. 
She thinks our National holiday is a grand 
celebration in honor of the Decoration of 
a Sixpence!” 

“Don’t be absurd, Robert,” his mother 
said, to which Rob slipped an arm around 
his mother’s shoulder, as he said: 

“Now, Mother, truly, am I more absurd 
than Vera?” 

“He ought to know more than I do; he’s 
three years older than I am,” said Vera. 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 85 

“Think you’ll know your history then as 
well as I do now?” Rob asked. 

“Oh, I might, if I cared to bother with 
it,” she said, coolly. 

“What started this discussion?” Mrs. 
Vane asked. 

“I don’t remember how it started, but I 
do know I’m back again to where I started, 
when I said I detested dates. I thought we 
could keep Dorothy and Nancy for weeks 
and weeks, and Dorothy says they have to 
go Saturday,” 

“I am sorry to have them leave,” Mrs. 
Vane said, “but Mrs. Dainty has written to 
remind me so to arrange our pleasures that 
Dorothy and Nancy will leave here on a 
train that will take them to Merrivale, ar¬ 
riving at about five in the afternoon.” 

“Why—ee! Then they’ll have to go,” 
cried Vera, now wholly convinced. “Well, 


86 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


then, instead of fretting because they can¬ 
not stay longer, we must have the best time 
we know how to have, every minute before 
Saturday.’ ’ 

“That’s right, Miss Thistledown,” said 
Rob. ■ ‘ Come on! I ’ll help you! I ’ll take 
you three out in the car, and I know a fine 
place where we’ll have a great dinner.” 

They did not wait to be urged. 

“Be sure to be home in time for the con¬ 
cert to-night,” Mrs. Vane reminded, and the 
three nodded assent, and waved to assure 
her that they heard. 

“It doesn’t seem as if to-morrow could 
be Friday,” said Vera. 

“Again your dates are mixed,” said Rob, 
“for let me tell you that to-morrow will be 
Saturday.” 

“What? Oh, Rob, do you mean it?” 
cried Vera. 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 87 

She was convinced, after much time had 
been spent in proving it to her, and she was 
somewhat comforted when Mrs. Vane prom¬ 
ised that she and Vera would accompany 
Dorothy and Nancy part way on the trip, 
to a station where they would find Aunt 
Charlotte waiting to complete the little jour¬ 
ney with them. 

They enjoyed the car ride, and, of course, 
Mrs. Vane and Aunt Charlotte were de¬ 
lightful to be with, but they thought it 
would have seemed more of an adventure 
if, on their return, they could have told the 
boys and girls, on that first day of school, 
that they had traveled quite alone. 

Home once more, and on the way to school 
they met Jack Tiverton, who insisted upon 
hearing all about their stay in New York, 
and what they saw while there. 


88 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


They did not, however, have time to tell 
even half of the good times that Mrs. Vane 
had planned for them, because Molly Mer¬ 
ton and Flossie Barnet now joined them; 
a bit farther along, they met Katie Dean 
with her cousin, Reginald, then Leander 
Correyville and Arabella came along, and 
just as they reached the schoolhouse, Tess 
Haughton rushed from the yard to meet 
them. 

When Patricia Levine happened along, 
she paused to listen a moment to the rapid 
questioning of the others. 

“When I go to New York, I go alone, and 
I come home alone. I wouldn’t be bothered 
with any one for company on the trip,” she 
said. 

“Why, Patricia Levine!” cried Molly, 
“I don’t believe you’d really like a long car- 
ride alone.” 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


89 


“Oh, well, it’s different with me,” Pa¬ 
tricia said boastfully, “because I’ve traveled 
so much, I’m really quite used to it.” 

“Ahem!” coughed one of the boys, at the 
same time swelling out his chest and star¬ 
ing about, as he strutted off. 

“Tell Patricia about our funny trip to 
the Metropolitan Museum,” Nancy said, 
but Patricia drew a soft scarf about her 
neck, straightened her hat, and said, “Well, 
yes, you might tell me about it some other 
time, but I’m in such a rush this morning. 
You see I am to attend the Auto Limb 
’Cad’my, and I must run along so as not to 
be a minute late,” and she hurried off leav¬ 
ing her astonished playmates staring after 
her. 

“What did she say?” drawled Arabella. 
“I never heard of the school. She’s said 


nothing to me about it.” 


90 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Let’s call it 4 The Short-o’-Long Acad¬ 
emy,’ ” Jack Tiverton suggested. “The 
two women who keep school there are short 
and long, so the name will fit.” 

“There’s a sign in the window,” Reginald 
said, “and the house is on a side street that 
leads out of the square. It is a brick house 
that looks sort of dingy. I wonder Pa¬ 
tricia would think of going to a school that 
was in anything but a handsome building. 
She thinks more of how a thing looks, than 
what it is worth.” 

“You’re right,” said Jack. “Patricia 
chooses her friends for what they have to 
wear, or for the sort of houses they live in.” 

“Aunt Matilda used to make me wear 
things that were plain and old-fashioned,” 
said Arabella, peering over her spectacles at 
the group of boys and girls, “but she seems 
to stick to me.” 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


91 


“But you live in a big house,” said a small 
girl, and Arabella could not deny that. 

“I love my friends just for themselves,” 
said Dorothy. 

“And that is why we love you,” said 
Flossie Barnet, “and oh, we’ve missed you 
so while you’ve been away!” 

“Flossie was saying yesterday that she 
hoped you’d surely be home on the first day 
of school,” Molly said, “and Jack said he 
knew something fine that was being planned 
for Friday afternoons, but he wouldn’t tell 
what.” 

“I wouldn’t tell yesterday, because yester¬ 
day I wasn’t sure, but now I know. We’re 
to have speaking and compositions, same as 
we had last year, but on the first Friday 
of each month we’re to give a little play. 
Next month would have to be the first one, 
because as school opens to-day, we would 


92 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

have no time to learn our parts, to say noth¬ 
ing of rehearsals.” 

“ Jack told us something else that he isn’t 
saying a word about now,” said Reginald, 
with a very wise glance at Jack. 

“Oh, that!” said Jack, “I was waiting for 
Dorothy to tell us all about it. I only had 
a hint of it.” 

“What am I to tell?” Dorothy said, feel¬ 
ing wholly puzzled. 

“It’s one of Jack Tiverton’s jokes,” de¬ 
clared Molly. 

“It’s no joke at all!” said Reginald. 

“Don’t you w T ant to tell?” Jack said, with 
an impish chuckle. 

“Haven’t you and Nancy seen anything 
new ? I mean up at the Stone House, some¬ 
thing being made for you and Nancy? 
Something any of us, if we’re up there at 
play, can enjoy.” 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


93 


6 4 We’ve not seen a thing, and can’t guess 
what you’re talking about,” said Nancy. 
“We only came home Saturday.” 

“And you’re wild to let it out,” said 
Molly, “so why don’t you tell it?” 

“You know your house looks like a castle, 
don’t you, Dorothy?” Jack said. 

“Sometimes Nancy and I call it our 
castle,” Dorothy replied. 

“And you haven’t yet seen something 
new, that makes you think of the old days?” 
Jack asked. 

“The days when there were knights who 
wore armor and carried spears?” 

“I can’t even guess what you two boys are 
talking about!” declared Dorothy, and just 
then the bell called them to the class-room. 
It was hard for Dorothy and Nancy to keep 
their minds upon their lessons. What had 
Jack seen that they had not seen ? 


94 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“It must be just a joke,” Dorothy said, 
“for if Jack could see it, whatever it is, 
surely we could.” 

They were walking home together after 
school. 

“And why would every one in the house 
keep so still about it? They’re always so 
quick to tell us, when there is something 
new or fine for us,” said Nancy. 

Now, it happened that a few days before 
Dorothy and Nancy went for a visit to 
Vera’s home, Dorothy, Nancy, Keginald, 
and Jack were discussing the story that Mr. 
Dainty had told, of gallant knights, and fair 
ladies, of clanking spurs, and gleaming 
spears, of moats, and drawbridges, and 
Dorothy had said: 

“Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our 
house had a drawbridge ? Think of having 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


95 


a man up on that tower marching back and 
forth, and James only letting the great 
drawbridge down when some one we loved 
rode in at the gateway.” 

“The drawbridge would be down about all 
the time,” Nancy said, slowly, “because you 
love almost every one.” 

Dorothy laughed. 

“Well, then wouldn’t it be fine to have a 
drawbridge, just a little drawbridge to play 
with, I mean when the boys are with us. 
They’re so afraid we’ll play what they call 
‘Sissy’ games, but a drawbridge! Oh, how 
they would enjoy that!” 

On the morning that they left for New 
York, the old gardener wandered about the 
garden, looking at one plant after another, 
but without much interest. 

“The garden sure looks different whin 


96 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


Miss Dorothy’s away,” he said softly, and 
the groom who had come up behind him 
heard what he said, and agreed. 

“I move we plan a sort of gift for Miss 
Dorothy when she comes home. I’ve taken 
care of Romeo, her pony, and many’s the 
mile I’ve rode behind her, and always she’s 
been a sweet little lass to do for. She’s a 
bit of sunshine, ye might say. Don’t ye 
know Miss Dorothy always has a nice gift 
for each of us at Christmas. What d’ye 
say we make a gift for her?” 

The young groom looked straight into 
John’s honest eyes. 

“Moike a gift, is ut?” cried the good old 
gardener. “Sure Oid toil till me fingers 
was sore, but phwat could Oi moike thot 
Miss Dorothy wad want ? Answer me thot, 
lad! Sure ye mane well, but ye’re young 
an’ foolish!” 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


97 


“Not so foolish, either, John, when ye 
hear the notion.” 

He reminded the gardener how eagerly 
Dorothy and Nancy, Jack and Reginald had 
told, and re-told parts of the story that Mr. 
Dainty had related, and how each had 
thought that even a little drawbridge would 
be fine to play with, and, “I say—let’s build 
one!” he concluded. 

“I asked Mr. Dainty about it, and he 
laughed, and said he could not permit us to 
put a drawbridge on the house, for that 
would surely be a nuisance, but now that he 
has the big garage, he would not care what 
additions we made to the little stone stable 
that the pony occupies. 

“He said we must not dig a moat around 
the stable, but that he did not object to the 
drawbridge on the pony’s stable. He said 
he felt sure that the gentle little Romeo 


98 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

would not object, and that if the pony did 
not mind, why should he?” 

“Thrue fer himself!” said John. 

“So I say, John, let’s you, and myself, and 
the young chap that’s helping with the gar¬ 
dening, get to work and build the draw¬ 
bridge that she was talking about, yes, and 
maybe, dreaming about.” 

“Ye’re a foine lad, an’ a shmart man, too, 
an’ Oill say thot if yez hoy the brains ter 
plan it, we’ll work loike beavers an’ hov it 
done whin she’s home from N’York. Sure, 
it don’t bother no one a-hangin’ on to the 
soide of the wee shtable, an’ we’ll enjoy the 
building of it, but tell me, ef ye can, whoy 
she do be wantin’ it?” 

“She told me a few days ago that stories 
of olden times that she had read, and others 
that her father has told her have filled her 
curly head full of notions about castles, and 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


99 


all that belongs to them,” said the groom. 
“She and Nancy have been 6 making be¬ 
lieve’ that the Stone House is their castle, 
and they actually wanted a drawbridge on 
the front of the house, but Mrs. Dainty ex¬ 
plained that it would be decidedly incon¬ 
venient.” 

“Well, thin, the wee shtable shall be a 
little castle with all the outlandish draw¬ 
bridges she wants,” said John, and 
promptly they set to work upon it. 

It happened, however, that they could not 
get the materials as quickly as they thought, 
so it was not quite complete when Dorothy 
returned. 

While school was in session on Monday 
the finishing touches were added, and on 
Tuesday the boys and girls went over after 
school to see it. 

The “builders” were very proud of their 


100 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

work, and happy to see Dorothy’s shining 
eyes. 

The little drawbridge, very light and eas¬ 
ily managed, was raised and lowered many 
times to show “how it worked.” 

There was only one who did not admire it, 
and that was Romeo. 

When led toward it, he pranced along 
with tiny steps and proudly arched neck, 
but he would not place one hoof upon it. 

Instead, he would toss his head, and trot 
around to the door, and wait to be let out 
there. 

To the little playmates it was a wonder¬ 
ful thing to have, and they devised games in 
order to use that little drawbridge. 

In one of their games, Jack claimed the 
stable for his castle, and declared himself 
to be an ogre who dwelt there. Gentle little 
Romeo was his “giant steed,” and great fun 


FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 


101 


had Jack, lowering his drawbridge to tempt 
guests to come, and then drawing it up be¬ 
fore any one could set foot upon it. 

The broad window on the side of the 
stable made a fine “door” when the draw¬ 
bridge was lowered. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 

A T the end of the Avenue, where the 
town was bordered by woodland, and 
the houses were few and far apart, there 
stood one house known as the “Dyke” 
house. 

Every one who passed the “Dyke” house 
admired its quaintness, and greater than the 
admiration it inspired, was the vast curi¬ 
osity regarding its history. It was a very 
old house, and so long had it been vacant, 
that Merrivale had forgotten the name of 
its last tenant. 

There was great excitement when around 
the town flew the startling news that some 
one had moved into the Dyke house. 


102 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


103 


The house had been built by a man named 
Dyke, but Merrivale people had long be¬ 
lieved the name to have been chosen because 
of the ditches that had been dug on the land 
at the rear of the house. 

To be sure, that would have been spelled 
with an i, instead of a y, but no one gave 
a thought to its spelling. 

One morning Jack Tiverton shouted the 
news to Reginald Dean when he met him 
on the way to school. Reginald told it to 
every one he met, and at recess, the boys and 
girls plied Jack with all sorts of questions. 

“All I know about the people at the old 
Dyke house, is what I’ve already told you,” 
he said. 

“There’s a sweet-faced little girl living 
there. She looked up and smiled, when a 
tall man opened the gate, and the two went 
up the walk to the porch, where a lady, who 


104 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

looked like the little girl, stood waiting for 
them. I don’t know how long they’ve been 
living there, and I didn’t ask their names.” 

“Well, who s’posed yon would?” snapped 
Molly Merton, for it was Molly who had 
asked their names, and she was vexed at 
Jack’s teasing. It was amusing to learn 
how many errands were invented as a reason 
for passing the Dyke house. The stores, 
the post office, the schools, were situated in 
the opposite direction, yet it seemed impos¬ 
sible for any child who had an errand to 
do, to go directly toward the center of the 
town. 

Invariably a walk past the Dyke house 
was the way the little trip to the stores be¬ 
gan, followed by a rapid walk down the 
Avenue to make up for lost time. 

Reports from several boys and girls ran 
something like this: 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 105 

‘She had on a blue dress this time.” 

“The day I saw her, her dress was pink.” 

“If the tall man is her father, he looks as 
if he’d not like us boys hanging ’round 
there.” 

“The lady is her mother, sure enough, for 
they look just alike.” 

One evening, Uncle Harry and Mr. 
Dainty were in the library, smoking, and 
Dorothy, who was looking for Nancy, passed 
the doorway just in time to hear Uncle 
Harry say: 

“I’ve just learned the name of the new 
owner of the Dyke house. His name is 
Trafton, and he and Correyville were class¬ 
mates at college. He is an expert jeweler 
and the little daughter is named ‘Jewel,’ a 
name that I have heard fits her very well.” 

Dorothy ran up the stairway, and on the 
landing, met Nancy, who was coming down. 


106 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“Oh, Nancy! The little new girl is Jewel 
Trafton, Uncle Harry says so, and isn’t 
‘ Jewel’ a lovely name?” 

“Jewel? Did you say 4 Jewel’?” Nancy 
asked. 

She was knitting a sweater for Elfin’s 
doll, and so busy counting stitches that she 
was not quite sure if she had heard the 
name correctly. 

“Yes, Jewel,” said Dorothy. 

“That’s a lovely name,” agreed Nancy, 
“and Jack Tiverton thinks the little girl is 
very sweet-looking. He said so that day 
when Molly was so vexed with him.” 

“Why was Molly vexed ? I don’t remem¬ 
ber,” Dorothy said. 

“Now I think of it, I don’t think you 
heard the little ‘fuss.’ You know Molly 
likes Jack better than any of the other boys, 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


107 


and I think she didn’t like to hear him say 
the little girl looked sweet,” said Nancy. 

“How queer!” Dorothy said slowly. 

“How queer for her to care enough to feel 
angry. Jack might think the little girl 
sweet-looking and not like Molly less.” 

“Oh, Molly is dear,” Nancy replied, “but 
I’ve noticed when we were speaking of Yera 
or even of Flossie, and saying anything nice 
about them, Mollie has looked as if she 
didn’t like to hear it. She hasn’t said any¬ 
thing, but she has frowned so that I knew 
she was annoyed.” 

“She may feel different if she knows 
Jewel and likes her,” Dorothy said. 

“Well— maybe,” Nancy said, “but she’s 
fond of Vera and Flossie. I’ll put this 
sweater away and we’ll go for a little walk.” 
They looked into each other’s eyes, and 


108 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

softly laughed, because each knew that the 
other was planning to walk past the old 
Dyke house. 

“Which way are you going?” 

“ Which way are yonV y 

They laughed, this time gayly, and run¬ 
ning out on the Avenue, turned toward the 
Dyke house. 

“I wonder if Mother would say we ought 
to ‘make a call.’ I don’t feel like doing 
that, it seems so ‘grown-up,’ ” Dorothy 
said, reflectively. 

“We can walk over there, and when we 
come to the beginning of the stone wall, we 
can walk so slowly that she will have time 
to come out,—I mean if she sees us from the 
window.” 

“That’s just the very thing to do,” Nancy 
said, as usual agreeing with Dorothy. 

When they were quite near the old Dyke 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 109 

house, they saw the little girl, a basket on 
her arm, walking along the winding gar¬ 
den path, as if in search of something. 

She turned, and when she saw the two 
smiling faces, her own face brightened, and 
she moved toward them. 

“Oh, please, are you coming to get ac¬ 
quainted? Jack Tiverton said he was al¬ 
most sure you would.’’ 

“Yes, oh yes!” cried Dorothy, and clasp¬ 
ing Nancy’s hand they hurried through the 
gateway. 

“I know you are Dorothy Dainty and 
Nancy Ferris,” the little girl said, “and I 
am Jewel Trafton, and oh, I’m so glad 
you’ve come. I only know Jack Tiverton, 
and I’m lonely because he is the only boy 
I know, and I didn’t know any of the girls. 
Now I know two girls, and I begin to feel 
very rich.” 


110 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“ You ’ll soon know the others,” Dorothy 
said. 

“That will be lovely,” Jewel said. “I 
promised to fill this basket, so Mother could 
arrange the flowers for the table. Come 
with me, and help me choose, and then I’ll 
be free to play.” 

The basket was soon filled, and then the 
fun began. Jewel took them through the 
quaint old house, and showed them a fine old 
flax-wheel, a fireplace large enough to seat 
six persons, if six could be found who cared 
to sit there, a tiny antique piano or spinet, 
and some fine old costumes of a century ago. 

There was a blue brocade with bouquets 
of pink roses tied with silver ribbons, and a 
wonderful red satin wrought in gold, and 
draped with heavy Spanish lace exactly the 
color of the satin. 

“This is a good house for playing ‘Hide- 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


111 


and-Seek,’ ” said Jewel, “because it is just 
full of hiding-places.” 

“I know where I’ll hide, sometime when 
I’m here again,” said Dorothy. 

“And I saw one place,” Nancy said, “that 
would be a dear place to hide in, for you’d 
surely have to hunt and hunt before you 
could find me. It’s a cute place you’d never 
dream a person would hide in.” 

Jewel laughed, a clear, rippling laugh. 

“And I would hide in a place I know of, 
where you couldn’t find me,” she said. 

A moment later she was no longer laugh¬ 
ing, but with wide, thoughtful eyes, she 
stood looking at Dorothy. 

“I showed you the old furniture and cos¬ 
tumes, and you enjoyed them, but I’m won¬ 
dering now why I took you through the gar¬ 
den? I wouldn’t have done that if I’d 
remembered,” she said. 


112 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

Dorothy turned in surprise. 

“If you’d remembered whatV 9 she asked. 

“That the gardens at your house are 
miles larger than ours. Wasn’t I a funny 
girl to think you would enjoy mine?” 

“That isn’t the way to look at it,” Dor¬ 
othy said quietly, at the same time looking 
earnestly into Jewel’s eyes, but Jewel was 
puzzled. 

“Why isn’t it?” she asked. 

“It wasn’t the size of the garden you 
showed me. You didn’t say anything about 
its size . You showed me the flowers,” Dor¬ 
othy said, “and the flowers are lovely. 
Your geraniums are wonderful, and your 
dahlias are every bit as large as ours, and 
John says ours are giants. It is a dear gar¬ 
den, so dear, I’d like to come again.” 

“I’ll surely have to come, too, for I go 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


113 


wherever Dorothy goes,” Nancy said, with 
a happy little laugh. 

In a very short time, Jewel knew all the 
girls and boys whom Dorothy and Nancy 
knew, and she had at once become a favor¬ 
ite. She knew all the games that they 
knew, and a few that were new to them. 

There came an afternoon, when the play¬ 
mates had planned taking a long walk, but 
the day had proved to be cold and misty, 
and Dorothy proposed that they remain in¬ 
doors where tires were blazing, and sending 
bright sparks up the chimney. 

“Let’s take turns telling stories,” said 
Reginald Dean. 

“Ho! I know Reginald!” cried Jack. 
“He knows a story that he is wild to tell. 
Well, so do I, and mine is full of pirates, 


114 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

and hidden gold, but first I want to see the 
Treasure Chest.” 

“Why, Jack Tiverton!” cried Molly, 
“anybody’d think you’d never seen it!” 

“I’ve seen it, but I was trying this morn¬ 
ing to describe the carving on the front of 
the chest, and I didn’t remember it well 
enough to describe it.” 

Dorothy led the way, followed by Nancy, 
Jack, Reginald, Molly, Flossie, and Jewel. 

Jack dropped upon the rug to examine 
closely the carving, and while they were all 
watching Jack, Arabella arrived. 

“Leander couldn’t come,” she drawled, 
“and he didn’t say why.” 

“Well, then you can’t tell us why,” Regi¬ 
nald said laughing. 

“Of course I can’t,” said Arabella, “but 
I don’t see why you laugh.” 

Arabella glared through her big goggles 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


115 


at him, and Nancy, to change the subject, 
turned to Dorothy and asked if her bangle 
had been repaired. 

“Not yeft,” Dorothy replied, “Father has 
a friend, an Oriental, who will know just 
how to re-set the stones, and then it will be 
as lovely as when it first was made. The 
man is away now, but as soon as he returns, 
Father will take the bangle to him. I think 
he is to be away for some time.” 

The girls asked so many questions about 
it, that Dorothy took the bangle out and 
showed them that while no stones were miss¬ 
ing, their settings were not holding them 
firmly. 

When she had returned the bangle to its 
quaint case, and had placed the case in the 
chest, they returned to their seats before the 
fire, and took turns, as they had agreed, in 
telling stories. 


116 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


Reginald’s story was droll, just the sort 
of story that he always chose to read, but 
Jack’s was, indeed, a pirate yarn, and so 
well did he tell it, that Reginald and Flossie 
were greatly excited, and although the 
others would not, for the world, have ad¬ 
mitted it, they certainly felt timid. 

Dorothy and Nancy, Jewel and little 
Flossie looked warily toward the shadows 
in the corners of the room, and when Ara¬ 
bella spoke, they actually “jumped,” and 
then laughed at their own foolish fears. 

“And now,” Jack continued, “the pirate 
chief and his band, armed to the teeth, were 
just about to climb up the side of the ship 
and—” 

“What do you mean by ‘armed to the 
teeth’?” Molly asked. 

“Oh, I know that!” Reginald hastened to 
say, “ ’cause once I saw a large painting in a 


TEE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


117 


gallery, and the canvas was just full of pi¬ 
rates, whose belts were stuck full of knives, 
and every one of those fierce-looking men 
carried an extra knife between his teeth.’’ 

“That’s it,” Jack agreed, “and they 
swarmed over the side of that ship, and 
lashed the captain to the mast, and took all 
the members of the crew, and tied their arms 
behind their backs, and tied their feet to¬ 
gether, and then they—” 

“Now, Jack Tiverton!” cried Nancy, “if 
you’re going to tell about a perfectly horrid 
massacre, you must stop now. Dorothy is 
so frightened she’s pale, and I don’t think 
I care to listen to tales that are frightful 
any more than she does.” 

“Whew! See Nancy’s eyes blaze!” cried 
Jack, delighted with the excitement that he 
had caused, “but honestly, I didn’t mean to 
frighten you girls, and besides, my story 


118 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


isn’t a massacre story, for when those pi¬ 
rates left the good ship, Sea Queen, both 
the captain and the crew were very much 
alive, and thoroughly mad, for those pirates 
took with them nearly everything of value.” 

Arabella made no comment, but mumbling 
something about having left her handker¬ 
chief in another room, she arose, and went 
out into the hall. 

Once in the hall, she went a bit farther, 
and paused where she could see another 
room by peeping between the portieres. 
She gasped with astonishment. On the floor 
trinkets were scattered, the Treasure Chest 
stood open, a gay tinted sash was falling 
softly over its side, and before it sat Jewel, 
the bangle in her hand. She was so inter¬ 
ested in the bangle that she had not heard 
Arabella’s footsteps, and so was unaware 
that she was being watched. 



The Treasure Chest stood open, . . . and before it sat 
Jewel, the bangle in her hand.— Page 118 . 



























































' 


















. 







































THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 119 

There was an unpleasant gleam in Ara¬ 
bella's eyes. After watching Jewel for a 
few seconds, she turned slowly from the 
portieres, and returned to her seat at the 
fireplace. Jack ended the story with a de¬ 
scription of the pirates, each going over the 
side of the vessel, with a huge pack on his 
back. 

“That's a great yarn!” said Eeginald. 

“It's a big yarn,” said Arabella, “and do 
you expect us to believe it, Jack? Do you, 
Jack Tiverton?” she persisted. 

“The old sailor who was telling it said 
it was true,” Jack said with a laugh, “and 
it seemed real to me when I heard it.” 

“If it sounded any real-e r than the way 
you tell it, Jack, I'd not dare to go home,” 
said Flossie. She wondered why the others 
laughed. 

“Why, where’s Jewel?” Mollie asked, but 


120 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

just at that moment Jewel appeared in the 
doorway, as if in answer to Molly’s question. 

Her eyes were unusually bright, and her 
cheeks were flushed. 

“Ho! Jewel ran away when I began to 
tell about the pirates firing on the good ship, 
Sea Queen, and she didn’t come back until 
the story was finished!” cried Jack. 

“I did feel a bit afraid; it is almost twi¬ 
light,” she said. 

Arabella stared over her goggles at Jewel, 
but she said nothing, and a few moments 
later, she left for home. 

“If you’ll wait just a moment I’ll walk 
along with you,” said Jewel, “I’d like your 
company, for it’s a long walk to your house, 
and it is quite a bit farther to reach mine.” 

“Well, I guess I won’t wait,” Arabella 
said, coolly, and walked out without once 
looking back. 


THE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


121 


44 Well, I never!” cried Molly. “I truly 
never saw any one so rude. Dorothy, you 
always try to make excuses for Arabella, 
but what excuse could you make for her this 
time?” 

“I was thinking that I didn’t believe she 
knew how rude it looked to speak as she did, 
and then turn right around, and start for 
home, not saying a word to either of us, or 
waiting a second for Jewel,” Dorothy said. 

“Oh, listen, every one of you! Did you 
hear the fine excuse Dorothy made for Ara¬ 
bella? Well, let me tell you, I mean to be 
as good a man as my father is, and that’s 
being pretty good I think, but if I ever get 
into any sort of scrape, I’ll surely call for 
Dorothy to defend me. She’ll find some ex¬ 
cuse for me, I know, ’ ’ said Jack. 

Dorothy looked up, a wee bit of moisture 
on her lashes. 


122 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“I’d do my best to help you, Jack,” she 
said, and he answered softly, “I know it,” 
his head dropped to hide from the others 
that he had been deeply moved. 

A maid came in with a tray, bringing hot 
chocolate and little cakes, and they forgot 
the terror of the pirate tale and Arabella’s 
rudeness, while enjoying the little treat. 

Later, when they walked along the avenue 
together, they drew lots to see which of the 
boys should walk home with Jewel. 

It fell to Reginald, and he boldly turned 
toward the opposite end of the Avenue, 
with Jewel close beside him. 

Now Reginald was much smaller than 
Jack, and Jack knew that when twilight 
came, Reginald, if he was out for a tramp 
with the boys, kept close to his friends, 
never, by any chance, wandering off into a 


TEE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


123 


side-path, no matter how interesting it 
might look. 

Jack laughed softly, but the girls could 
not coax him to tell them what so amused 
him. 

Dorothy and Nancy, watching from the 
French window, saw Reginald going briskly 
up the Avenue with Jewel, saw Jack walk 
with Molly and Flossie till they were safely 
home, and then turn about and returning to 
the great gateway of the Stone House, 
mount the high wall, and seat himself on 
its coping. 

“I thought he was coming back for some¬ 
thing he might have left,” Nancy said, “but 
he’s just sitting there, swinging his legs and 
whistling.” 

“He’s waiting for Reginald,” said Dor¬ 
othy. 


124 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


For a long time he sat there, whistling to 
“keep his courage up,” but becoming more 
restless as the moments passed, and then,— 
surely he heard footsteps approaching! He 
did indeed, and great was his disgust when 
down the Avenue came Reginald, brave 
enough surely, because close beside him was 
Leander Correyville, Arabella’s cousin, a 
half-head taller than Jack. 

“Well, I declare!” cried Jack, “I thought 
I’d be a good fellow and wait here to walk 
home with you, and seems to me you have 
a capable escort.” 

“Escort!” cried Reginald, “Escort, did 
you say? Do I look as if I’d be afraid to 
go home alone?” 

“No, you don’t look like that, but it is 
a long walk, and I—oh, I’m your chum, 
Reginald, and I waited to walk along with 
you, that’s all.” 


TEE NEW LITTLE GIRL 


125 


“It’s all right, Jack,” Reginald said 
quickly, “and you’re a chum worth having.” 

There was a greater difference in size, 
than in years. Reginald was nearly Jack’s 
age, but he was nearly a half-head shorter, 
and far more slender. 

Jack had no idea of belittling Reginald, 
but he always felt a desire to protect his 
chum because of his own greater strength. 

Jack had a brave, loving heart, and the 
other boys said that in all things, he “played 
fair.” 


CHAPTER VII 


WHAT BECAME OF ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 

fc 4 X’M glad that Levine girl is home where 

X she belongs,” Aunt Matilda Correy- 
ville said, one afternoon, pausing near the 
window to look down the avenue, * 4 Arabella 
comes home quite promptly now, though I 
will say she’s late to-day.” 

“What were you saying about Patricia 
Levine?” Mrs. Correyville asked. 

“I said I was glad she was home, for Ara¬ 
bella certainly behaves better when the Le¬ 
vine girl is in New York.” 

“That’s a good one, Aunt Matilda!” de¬ 
clared Leander who had just entered. 

“What do you mean, Leander?” Aunt 
Matilda asked sharply. 


126 


ARABELLA'S GOGGLES 


127 


“Oh, that’s a grand joke!” criedLeander, 
“for Patricia is right here in Merrivale, and 
has been all the time.” 

He could have told her that at that mo¬ 
ment Arabella and Patricia were sitting on 
the stone wall, some distance from the house, 
so earnestly talking that it looked as if it 
might be quite a bit later before Arabella 
would reach home, but he said never a word. 
He was no “telltale,” and it seemed to the 
boy that Aunt Matilda did quite enough 
fault-finding without any help from him. 

Leander detested Aunt Matilda’s sharp 
tongue, and he turned toward the window, 
wondering if he could in any way manage to 
screen Arabella from a lengthy scolding. 

Aunt Matilda was said to possess a for¬ 
tune, and feeling her importance, she 
strove to rule the household. 

Mrs. Correyville, pretty and weak- 


128 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


willed, allowed her to rule, because it re¬ 
quired less effort than to combat her. For 
some time, Leander and Arabella had been 
using a signal code, and now Leander stood 
waiting for Arabella to come in sight. 

“O dear, why didn’t I think to tell Ara¬ 
bella to stop at the store and get that spool 
of thread for me! It would have been just 
a step, when she came out of school,” wailed 
Aunt Matilda. 

Now Aunt Matilda had forgotten that she 
had asked Leander to do the errand, and 
Leander had forgotten that the spool was 
in his pocket. 

He opened his mouth to tell her that he 
had the thread, but before he spoke he 
thought of a way to save Arabella, and he 
remained silent. 

Aunt Matilda went out to the kitchen, and 
began bustling about, and a moment later, 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


129 


Arabella appeared around a bend of the 
road. Frantically the* boy signaled and she, 
catching his meaning, waved that she 
understood. 

Usually, Arabella came in at the side door, 
but Aunt Matilda would see her, and then 
the fun would begin. 

“I’ll let you in at the front door,” was 
Leander’s message, and to the front door 
Arabella went. 

“I don’t see what use it is to let me in 
this way,’’ she said in a loud whisper. “I’m 
just as late at this door, as I’d be at the 
other!” 

“Don’t be a goose!” whispered Leander, 
as he thrust the little parcel into her hand. 
“She asked me to get this spool of thread, 
and she’s forgotten that she asked me. 
She’s been saying she meant to ask you to 
do the errand. She’ll think she must have 


130 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


asked you, so don’t say a word. Just take 
off your hat up-stairs, and then come down 
and hand her the spool. I don’t know if 
I’m doing wrong to help you, but I do hate 
to hear her fuss, so hurry right down.” 

Arabella was never known to move so 
quickly. She was down-stairs in no time. 

“Here’s your thread, Aunt Matilda,” she 
said, and then she picked up a towel and, 
wonder of wonders, commenced to wipe the 
dishes that Aunt Matilda had just washed. 
She had been cooking, and mixing-bowls, 
cups, and big spoons, pans, and pitchers 
were piled in the drainer. 

Aunt Matilda stood staring at the unusual 
sight. 

Finally she spoke. 

“Wal, ef you aren’t the queerest child I 
ever see!” she said. “There’s no tellin’ 
when ye’re likely to bu’st out in a new spot.” 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


131 


Leander, standing behind the door, and 
peeping through the crack, chuckled softly. 

He knew that Arabella’s dish-wiping was 
about the same as a plea for mercy. Aunt 
Matilda was more than pleased. She was 
delighted, and not a word did she say about 
Arabella’s late return from school. 

Arabella had a very good reason for try¬ 
ing to please Aunt Matilda. 

After dinner she again helped with the 
dishes. 

“I never see the beat of it!” declared 
Aunt Matilda, “for whenever I’ve asked her 
to help me, she just wouldn’t, an’ that’s all 
there was to it. Now she’s doing it ’thout 
being asked. Don’t that beat all?” 

When the dishes had been wiped and 
placed in the closet, they returned to the big 
living-room. 

Aunt Matilda picked up her knitting. 


132 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

Mrs. Correyville busied herself with a bit of 
embroidery, while Leander pretended to be 
reading, while attempting to catch Ara¬ 
bella’s attention. 

At last she looked toward him. 

“You ask?” she said, moving her lips, but 
not making a sound. 

Leander nodded that he fully understood, 
then, after a moment, he spoke. 

“Mrs. Dainty is giving a party for Dor¬ 
othy, three weeks from to-night,” he said, 
“and Nancy says our invitations will be 
here to-morrow.” 

“Well, well, a party up at the big Stone 
House is always an event,” said Aunt Ma¬ 
tilda, “an’ I guess I’ll do up her white sum¬ 
mer dress to-morrow. ’Tisn’t a party dress, 
I know, but I guess it’ll do.” 

“Well, I guess it won’t!” declared Le¬ 
ander stoutly. “ It’s a fancy costume party, 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


133 


and all the guests are to be dressed to rep¬ 
resent something, or somebody. I’m will¬ 
ing enough to take Arabella if she looks 
decent!” 

“Le-em-der Correyville!” cried Aunt 
Matilda. 

“Yes, ma’am!” responded Leander. 
“And I meant what I said. Why, see here, 
Aunt Myra,” as he turned toward Mrs. Cor¬ 
reyville, “Arabella looks actually old-fash¬ 
ioned, and you let her wear things that look 
just about right for Aunt Matilda. She 
looks so everlasting queer that people think 
she is queer!” 

Then the surprising thing happened. 

Aunt Matilda gasped, then she said, 
“Why, Leander, I never thought of it till 
you said so, but Arabella’s clothes do look 
like mine.” 

Arabella held her breath. 


134 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

The next happening, was the greatest sur¬ 
prise of all. 

For the first time in her life, Mrs. Cor- 
reyville spoke firmly. “ After this, I will 
select Arabella’s clothes.” 

“Oh, Mother!” cried Arabella, dropping 
on the floor beside her, and leaning against 
her, and the look in her eyes told all that 
she felt, but could not express. She looked 
toward Leander, who had so bravely spoken 
for her. 

He motioned for her to speak, but she 
shook her head and pointed at him. The 
big boy evidently thought that having won 
one battle, he might as well try his luck 
again, so, rising, he turned toward Mrs. 
Correyville. 

He knew this second effort required more 
courage than the first, but he felt a bit brave 
and more determined even than before. 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


135 


“Now, Aunt Myra, I’ve found out some¬ 
thing that I think you don’t know,” he 
went on to say. 

She said nothing, and he continued, 
“Arabella doesn’t need glasses!” 

“What are you saying?” cried Mrs. Cor- 
reyville. “Do you mean to say, Leander, 
that you know more than the oculist who 
fitted her glasses?” 

“Fitted nothing!” cried Leander. “That 
man that had a little store down in the 
Square, and pretended that he was an ocu¬ 
list, left town a few weeks ago, and people 
are saying that he told any one who came 
into his store, that he needed glasses. I’ll 
bet anything that he said Arabella needed 
goggles, so, of course, Aunt Matilda bought 
them. 

“Only this morning I caught Arabella 
reading without her glasses, and say! I be- 


136 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

lieve those goggles have window-glass for 
lenses!” 

“Can you read without them?” asked 
Mrs. Correyville, bending over Arabella. 

“Of course I can,” said Arabella, “and 
write, or sew.” 

“Why haven’t you told me?” her mother 
asked. 

“Because I thought Aunt Matilda would 
fuss, but oh, I do hate to wear them!” 

“Let me take them,” said Aunt Matilda. 

“Let me take them first, please!” Mrs. 
Correyville said firmly. 

“Window-glass is about right,” she said, 
“for I am sure that any one might use them, 
and I am equally sure that they are of no 
use to any person who really needs glasses.” 

“And I paid that man eighteen dollars 
for the goggles, and five dollars for examin¬ 
ing her eyes!” wailed Aunt Matilda. 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


137 


“And I’ve seen my little girl needlessly 
disfigured with those goggles!” cried Mrs. 
Correyville. “I wonder what Robert will 
say when he comes home!” 

“Mother, will you let me smash those 
glasses, before Aunt Matilda has time to 
coax you to let me wear them again ?” said 
Arabella. 

“She could never make me do that,” Mrs. 
Correyville said with twinkling eyes, “but 
you are welcome to do whatever you choose 
with them. Perhaps Leander would like to 
share the fun of demolishing them. He 
surely deserves much. He was here just 
now.” 

“I’ll find him,” cried Arabella, rushing 
from the room, and out on to the lawn. 

“Leander! Leander! Come here!” she 
cried. To which Leander responded; 

“I’ll be there in a minute!” 


138 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Come now, Leander!” she insisted, “and 
bring a big rock.” 

“Bring a rock, or stone, for what?” said 
Leander as he sauntered toward her. 

“Mother said I could de-mol-ish these old 
goggles, and I don’t know what that means, 
so I think I’ll just smash them to teeny 
bits.” 

Leander laughed, Arabella could not 
think why, and she was so happy that she 
did not care. She was to look like other 
little girls, and she was free from the hated 
goggles. 

“There!” cried Leander, when hardly a 
fragment of them remained, “I guess 
they’d have a hard time trying to put those 
on your nose now!” 

“I’ve never felt so happy, and, oh, I don’t 
know how to say it—sort of free!” cried 


ARABELLA'S GOGGLES 


139 


Arabella. “No more goggles, and no more 
funny clothes! I do think you’re the brav¬ 
est boy, to face them for me! I certainly 
like you, Leander.” 

The big, overgrown boy blushed. 

“Well, you’re not half bad, Arabella, and 
I do believe you’re going to act more like 
the other girls when you look more like— 
well more as you ought to/’ he said. 

For a few moments they said not a word. 
Bach was thinking of new and happier 
days for Arabella. 

It was not that she had longed for expen¬ 
sive clothes. She was not so silly as that. 
It was simply that she could not bear to 
have her garments make her look like noth¬ 
ing childlike. Like a little old lady she had 
appeared, and now, O joy! She was to 
look like other little girls. 


140 


DOROTHY DAINTY 9 8 CASTLE 


“What are you going to wear to the 
party ?” she asked, looking up at her 
cousin. 

“I’ll tell you, if you’ll promise to do a 
little plain sewing for me,” he said, with a 
chuckle. 

“Why, Leander!” she cried, “see what 
you’ve done for me! I’ll sew anything for 
you, if you think I can sew well enough.” 

“You won’t have to sew very well, to do 
what I want done,” said Leander. “I 
don’t want a handsome costume. I want a 
funny one. I hear one of the boys is going 
as a cowboy, another as a clown, another as 
an Indian, another as a Viking, but I want 
a rig such as no one would think of wearing. 
You know I’m tall and skinny, and the boys 
call me ‘Beanpole.’ Well, I intend to live 
up to the name, and go as a beanpole!” 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


141 


“Why, Leander Correyville, how could 
you?” cried Arabella. 

“I’ve bought dark gray cambric, just the 
color of a weather-beaten beanpole, and I’m 
going to get one of Uncle Robert’s old plug 
hats, to put on my head for the top of the 
pole. I’ll take off the brim, and you can 
cover the crown with cambric. 

“Down at the paper store they’ve some 
vines that are made of paper, but they look 
like bean-vines, and their blossoms look like 
bean blossoms. You can wind them round 
me, and I’ll be stunning as a living bean¬ 
pole!” 

“Why-ee! Think of me, walking in with 
a beanpole!” said Arabella, but she laughed, 
and said he had been so good to her, she 
would surely do anything for him. She 
promised even more. 


142 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“A beanpole is a country thing, and I 
think I’ll wear a country costume. I’ll ask 
Mother to make a little milkmaid dress for 
me. We’ll look fine together.” 

Leander looked at her for a moment, then 
he said: 

“I thought you were so near-sighted that 
you couldn’t see without glasses.” 

“That’s what the man said,” Arabella re¬ 
plied. “I told him I could see without 
them, and things that I looked at through 
those spectacles looked just the same as 
when I looked with just my eyes, but he said 
I didn’t know what I was talking about, and 
that I must wear goggles to save my sight, 
and Aunt Matilda believed him.” 

“One thing is sure, you’ll not wear them 
again,” said Leander, “and already you’re 
a better-looking girl. I was sick of seeing 
you peeping over your ‘specs.’ ” 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


143 


“I was sick of looking through them,” 
Arabella said, “and just as tired of wearing 
them. 

“For the first time I’ll truly enjoy a 
party, and tell me, do you know what any of 
the girls are going to be?” 

“I know one,” Leander said, “and that’s 
Patricia, for she told me after school yester¬ 
day. Oo—but that girl is a scream! Say! 
She’s to represent the very thing you’d 
know she’d choose. The Fairy Queen! 
Think of it. The most beautiful creature 
that has ever been described! I wonder she 
didn’t pose for an angel. My, with her 
temper that would be a joke!” 

“Hello!” called a clear voice, and Regi¬ 
nald came running toward them. “Guess 
who’s invited to the party? Carlo is. The 
invitations aren’t mailed yet, so Dorothy 
just gave one to Carlo, and he feels so big 


144 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


you can’t get it away from him. He won’t 
let me take it to look at it. He’s to be in a 
tableau, and so Dorothy said be must have 
an invitation. Isn’t be funny'? He won’t 
lay it down.” 

Carlo bad bis own idea as to the value of 
the envelope that be now held in bis teeth, 
and later, the children learned what that 
idea was. 

“I tell you, Carlo knows—why, Arabella! 
How different you look without those 
glasses! I never saw you without them. 
Did you break them?” 

“Oh, yes, and Leander helped me break 
them!” Arabella said, and then she told him 
how she had been forced to wear them, be¬ 
cause the man who pretended to be an opti¬ 
cian had said that she needed them. 

“The mean fellow!” Reginald cried 


ARABELLA’S GOGGLES 


145 


sharply. “Say! When I’m a man, I’ll 
never do anything like that! I’ll he the 
sort of chap who gives a straight deal, and 
goods I sell will he worth what I charge!” 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE COSTUME PARTY 

B RIGHT lights everywhere, soft music, 
and the gay laughter and chatter of 
childish voices borne on the breeze, so that 
late arrivals, as they rode up the driveway, 
realized that the wonderful party was at 
last a real party instead of a happy dream. 

“ These little friends look as if they had 
stepped right out from the pages of a 
book of charming fairy tales,” said Mrs. 
Merton who was standing beside Mrs. 
Dainty. 

“They surely do,” Mrs. Dainty replied, 
“and I believe that i grown-ups’ enjoy 
watching the children very nearly as much 
as they enjoy their own parties.” 


146 


THE COSTUME PARTY 


147 


“I’ll speak for myself,” said Uncle 
Harry, “and I can honestly agree with you, 
and also say that I know how to double my 
enjoyment, for beside the joy of watching 
them, I’m going right in to be one of them 
from now until the latest little guest starts 
for home.” 

“Oh, Harry, you are just a great, grown¬ 
up boy!” declared his sister, Mrs. Barnet, 
laughing. 

“Well, what are men but grown-up 
boys'?” he asked, turning to look over his 
shoulder and laugh as he hastened to join 
the children, who greeted him with shouts of 
delight. 

“What think now, ladies'? Which one of 
you dares dispute my popularity? Four 
very fair and charming young misses have 
each engaged me for a dance?” 

“We wouldn’t presume to dispute so evi- 


148 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

dent a fact/’ his wife said, laughing as he 
walked away, a little girl clinging to either 
arm. 

Dorothy wore a lovely oriental costume of 
scarlet and gold, with Nancy as her play¬ 
mate in a similar costume of blue and gold. 
Flossie as 44 Little Snow White,’’ and Molly 
as a “Skater,” in a handsome white suit 
with white fur cap and collar, made two 
dainty figures. Patricia’s costume was a 
very pretty one, and she would have made a 
very good-looking fairy if only she had not 
appeared to think herself wonderfully 
lovely. Her silly vanity made Patricia, al¬ 
though a pretty girl, appear absurd. The 
boys’ costumes were as varied as were those 
of the girls, and the big drawing-room made 
a charming background for the brilliant 
colors that had been lavishly used in adorn¬ 
ing the merry little guests. 





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THE COSTUME PARTY 


149 


Dorothy, looking eagerly for her friends, 
had just decided that all had arrived when 
for the first time she realized that Antony 
was not present. 

She was about to ask Uncle Harry if he 
had seen Antony on the way over when a 
new guest entered in so amazing a costume 
that, at sight of him, every child stopped 
talking. 

“Who is he?” they asked each other 
softly, and those nearest the strange figure, 
crowded back, closer to their friends. 

“Whom have we here?” questioned Mr. 
Dainty. 

A deep voice replied, “I am a wild pi¬ 
rate at sea, and a harmless one on shore.” 

“Then I bid you welcome,” said Mr. 
Dainty, and the pirate bowed low, and, re¬ 
moving his hat, that almost hid his eyes, he 
laughed at his astonished friends. A false 


150 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


mustache remained in place, but his wig of 
long, black hair, had come off with the hat. 
It was Antony! 

Little Flossie was the first to speak. 

“Oh, Antony!” she cried; “I wouldn’t 
believe you could look so fearful.” 

“Now, I call that a fine compliment for 
your very original costume,” Mr. Dainty 
said. 

“And he designed it,” said Reginald, 
“and I call that clever.” 

“It surely is,” agreed Mr. Dainty, “and 
here are two late arrivals—the one, a little 
milkmaid, is Arabella, but who and what is 
her escort, but a huge beanpole, bean-vine 
and all.” 

“It’s Leander,” cried Arabella, “and I 
think he’s every bit as clever as Antony.” 

“I’ll agree with you,” cried Antony, 


THE COSTUME PARTY 151 

heartily. “I had Father to question as ,to 
the appearance of my costume, but who 
would ever think of representing a ‘living 
beanpole’9 Shake hands, Beany.” 

Thrust through a wealth of vines Lean- 
der’s hand appeared from under a cluster 
of leaves and blossoms, and the boys and 
girls cheered as the two shook hands. 

A court-jester striking a triangle close to 
Flossie’s head, made her cover her ears to 
shut out its metallic tones. 

The court-jester proved to be Reginald’s 
brother, and an odd pair they made, the 
little Indian, Reginald, looking up at the 
jester, unaware that Carlo stood just behind 
him, his invitation still firmly held in his 
teeth. 

Reginald turned, and saw him, looking as 
dignified as a judge. 


152 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Well, Carlo, what do you think you’re 
doing ?” said Reginald, and Carlo turned 
and walked over to Dorothy. 

“Oh, now I know what he’s up to!” said 
Reginald. “He has kept that invitation be¬ 
tween his teeth ever since you gave it to 
him, putting it down only just long enough 
to eat. Don’t you remember you said to 
him; ‘Now mind, take care of it,’ and he 
has thought you gave it to him, just to take 
care of it for you. He wouldn’t give it up 
to us. Try him! I do believe he’ll give it 
up to you.” 

“Give it to me, Carlo,” said Dorothy, and 
the big dog laid it at her feet. 

“Oh, you faithful old fellow!” cried Dor¬ 
othy, and Carlo, sure that he was approved 
of, looked from one to another, greedy for 
more praise. When he had been petted and 
made much of, he lay on the rug before 


THE COSTUME PARTY 153 

the great fireplace, and watched the games. 

Game after game they played, they 
danced with flying feet, they laughed and 
sang, and then more games were enjoyed. 
Carlo sat erect and dignified, watching the 
children, when, with a bold jump, a fat 
puppy with a big bone in his mouth landed 
right under the big dog’s nose. 

Down upon the handsome velvet rug the 
pup crouched, and began to gnaw the 
bone vigorously. 

Carlo looked his disgust, and the children 
gasped at the pup’s boldness. 

“The dirty little imp!” cried Reginald, 
and he stooped to push the pup from his 
place on the rug, intending to drive him to¬ 
ward the door, when, like a flash, Patricia 
rushed toward Reginald. 

Snatching at his arm, she shouted in his 


ear: 


154 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“Don’t you touch my pet, you horrid boy! 
Don’t you touch him, I say!” 

She stamped her foot, and her flushed 
cheeks and angry frown made her look like 
anything but a sweet-tempered fairy! 

There’s no chance of guessing what Pa¬ 
tricia might have done if Reginald had laid 
hands on the pup, but just at that moment 
the butler entered, a large cloth in his 
hands. 

Throwing the cloth over the pup and his 
big, greasy bone, he bore them from the 
room, followed by Patricia, screaming with 
all her might; 

“Put him down! Put him down this 
minute!” 

“Now listen, Miss Patricia. He foilered 
yer, an’ the cook took him in an’ give him a 
bone ter amuse him till you’d be just startin’ 
fer home when he could go with yer.” 


TEE COSTUME PARTY 155 

The butler strode out into the hall carry¬ 
ing the wriggling puppy, followed by Patri¬ 
cia, loudly scolding. 

It was not a pretty scene, and never had 
Patricia looked or acted worse. Not a 
thought had she of regret for the disturb¬ 
ance, or for the unsightly spot made on the 
valuable rug, by the greasy bone. 

First Reginald, and then the butler, had 
treated her pet rudely she thought, and as 
she raced out into the hall, she became more 
angry with every step. 

It happened that Mrs. Dainty had just 
taken her friends to the conservatories, to 
see some lovely flowering plants, and Mr. 
Dainty and Uncle Harry had followed the 
ladies, so that the “grown-ups” had not wit¬ 
nessed the disgraceful scene. 

For a time the children stood looking 
after the tall butler and Patricia, and then, 


156 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

believing that she was sulking somewhere, 
waiting, as usual, to be coaxed to return, 
they resumed their frolics, until, on Mrs. 
Dainty’s return to the drawing-room, the 
banquet was announced. 

It was a large party, sixty little guests 
being present. If there had been few 
guests, Patricia would surely have been 
missed, but as it was, each little guest be¬ 
lieved that Patricia was somewhere in the 
throng, and without further thought, pro¬ 
ceeded to enjoy the feast. 

Carlo sat on the rug before the fire and 
looked toward the dining-room with long¬ 
ing eyes. 

Now, Patricia was sulking, as the chil¬ 
dren thought, but not in the library or hall. 
No, indeed! She had resolved to make 
them all very sorry for her. 


THE COSTUME PARTY 157 

She did not once think that the pup had 
been a little nuisance. 

She preferred to think both the pup and 
herself badly treated. The butler hurried 
the pup out to the kitchen, while Patricia 
slipped out on the side porch. Calling 
softly, she soon saw the pup rushing toward 
her. She clasped him in her arms, and 
raced toward the open door of Romeo’s 
stable. 

Some packing-boxes were piled in the far 
end of the little stable. Snatching hastily 
from a pile of carriage robes that lay on a 
box near by, she drew one about her, and 
crouched on the floor, still hugging the pup, 
who licked his greasy chops in memory of 
the delicious bone, and snuggled closer to 
enjoy the warmth of Patricia’s clasping 


arms. 


158 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“I guess they’ll be sorry when they hunt 
and hunt and can’t find us,” Patricia whis¬ 
pered. 

She had been hiding there behind the 
piled-up boxes for what seemed a long time, 
but which was really twenty minutes, when 
suddenly the stable door shut with a slam 
that so frightened both Patricia and the 
pup that they huddled in their hiding-place, 
and made never a sound. 

4 ‘Well, the wind blew that door so it shut, 
and now I guess they will hunt one while be¬ 
fore they find me!” she whispered. 

She laughed, and the pup cuddled closer, 
preparing to take a nap. 

In the great drawing-room the lights 
glowed under the soft-toned shades, and the 
boys and girls wore the brilliant-hued caps 
that they had received as favors, and they 


THE COSTUME PARTY 


159 


looked like little human flowers in the col¬ 
ors of the rainbow. 

One would think that Arabella would 
have missed Patricia, but Arabella, for the 
first time, was truly enjoying a party. Her 
little Milkmaid costume was becoming, and 
far younger-looking than any dress that she 
had been wearing, and several of her 
friends had said, “What a pretty costume, 
and how fine you look!” and Arabella’s 
eyes were glowing, while she blushed with 
delight at the first compliments that she 
had ever received. 

It really was not strange that she forgot 
to look for Patricia. Where, at other par¬ 
ties, Patricia had been her only friend, she 
now found many. Becomingly dressed, she 
now had confidence, and now that she 
showed a desire to be friendly, she found 
her playmates quick to respond. 


160 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“I’m so happy to-night,” she whispered 
to Leander, and the “beanpole” quickly re¬ 
plied, 44 I’m glad for you, Arabella, and I’m 
happy, too.” 

The tableaux were soon to be shown, and 
those who were to be posed, including Carlo, 
were called together, and led behind the 
great crimson velvet curtain at the end of 
the room. 

The first represented sea fairies dancing, 
a pale green light looking like mist hanging 
over the sea. The next showed Flossie a 
Red-Riding-Hood in correct costume. Reg¬ 
inald made a fine Highland laddie. Molly 
appeared as a Spanish Gipsy, Dorothy and 
Nancy as Wood Nymphs, Tess Haughton as 
an Italian flower-girl. Antony, in a hunt¬ 
ing costume, made a bold figure, and many 
more characters, all beautiful, were heart¬ 
ily applauded. The last was called 44 A 


THE COSTUME PARTY 


161 


Valued Friend/’ and when the curtain 
swung aside, there stood Carlo looking out 
from the frame, “a very broad smile on his 
face,” the boys said, and Jack proposed 
i ‘Three cheers for our friend!” and they 
were given with a will. 

It was after the little guests were gone, 
that Dorothy looked at Nancy, with a start, 
as she said: 

“Why, Patricia didn’t say a word to us, 
and—why, now I think of it, 1 don’t remem¬ 
ber seeing her. 

“You don’t suppose she ran off home, 
when the butler took the puppy out, do you ? 
I thought she was sulking in the hall, and I 
wanted to go and ask her to join the games, 
but I remembered that when she is sulky, 
she usually does better if we seem not to 
notice it.” 

“I know;” Nancy said, “and there were 


162 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

so many here that I forgot about her.” 

The children’s wraps had been cared for 
by a maid, and it was not until the next day 
that it was learned that a coat and hat had 
been left by one of the guests. 

It was early on the morning after the 
party, that the gardener noticed some loose 
branches hanging from the trees, and 
smaller ones on the ground where the wind 
had tossed them. 

He had gathered them together and was 
about to carry them off, when he saw a large 
branch lying near the stable, and went over 
to get it. 

He stooped to pick it up, when a strange 
cry from the stable made him pause, a look 
of absolute terror on his face. 

Again it sounded. 

Clapping his hands over his ears, the gar¬ 
dener hurried to the house, pushed past the 


THE COSTUME PARTY 


163 


cook who stood in the doorway, and 
dropped on a chair in the kitchen. 

“Och! Such sounds! Such noises in 
the little barn beyant! Didn’t I say them 
tree-branches must of been pulled down by 
witches or imps? Them branches didn’t 
come down widout help, an’ what is ut I 
hears in the barn but witches, or the 
loike?” 

“Now, now, me good man, just pull yer- 
self together!” cried the butler. “Are ye 
sure ye heard any noise at all?” 

“Am Oi sure Oi hoy a pair of ears?” 
queried John, who disliked the butler at all 
times, but fairly despised him now. 

“If, ye’re not too scairt, whoy don’t ye be 
goin’ over ter the wee shtable, an’ see can ye 
hear any such sounds as Oi’m tellin’ ye Oi 
heard?” 

“To be sure I will. I’ll get the boy that 


164 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

helps around the place to go with me/’ said 
the butler. 

“Foine!” cried the gardener. “As long 
as ye’re so brave, take a feller wid ye, jist 
fer company.” 

The butler pretended not to have heard, 
and strutted along the driveway until he 
had nearly reached the barn, when, just as 
the gardener had done, he took to his heels 
and raced to the house followed by the 
frightened boy who tried to “get there 
first.” 

“Well, well!” cried the gardener, “Whoy 
did ye run'?” 

“Because it’s too cold to stand out there 
any length of time,” said the butler with 
much dignity. 

It was the young groom, who took espe¬ 
cial care of Romeo, who proved himself to 
be the bravest man on the place, for while 


THE COSTUME PARTY 


165 


they were still talking of the strange sounds 
in the stable, the kitchen door was pushed 
open, and in walked the groom, tugging a 
huge bundle that appeared to be trying to 
walk. Unwrapping the big carriage robe, 
he showed to the astonished group, a very 
cold and hungry girl and pup, for Patricia 
still hugged Fairy, as she had hugged him 
all night, partly for company, partly for 
warmth. 

“If it ain’t the Levine girl!” cried the 
cook. “Where did she come from?” 

“From the pony’s stable, where she hid 
last night. She hid—and when she wanted 
to go back to the house, she found herself 
locked in,” said the groom. 

“The stable door was open and I ran in, 
and then, after a while, some one, or maybe 
the wind, shut the door with a bang that 
scared me.” 


166 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“’Twas I who shut the door,” said the 
groom. “I don’t know who left it open, 
V d no idea of leaving it open all night. I 
never dreamed that any one was in there.” 

“I want my hat and coat, and I want to 
go home!” cried Patricia. 

“Ki-yi!” remarked the pup, as he wrig¬ 
gled from her arms, and began greedily to 
eat from a plate that the cook had set on the 
floor before the range. With noisy gulps 
he swallowed the soup. 

“Lave the plate, ye little baste B” said 
the gardener. 

“The maid has gone up-stairs for your 
wraps, an’ while ye wait for her I’ll set out 
a warm breakfast for ye,” the cook said 
kindly. 

“I’d not be seen eating in the kitchen!” 
Patricia said rudely, with never a thought 
that the cook had meant kindly, thinking 


TEE COSTUME PARTY 


167 


only that the little girl was hungry and cold, 
and eager to prepare some food for her 
without delay. 

“Would ye condescind to let us telephone 
yer aunt who, by this time, must be woild 
ter hear from jeV ’ queried the gardener. 

“You needn’t. We don’t have a tele¬ 
phone. Telephones are too common. 
Everybody has one!” Patricia said grandly. 

The maid now appeared. 

“I’ve found your coat and hat, miss, but 
Mrs. Dainty says I’m to ask you to have 
breakfast with the family before you go, and 
then drive over home with her and Miss 
Dorothy.” 

Patricia hesitated. She thought of the 
old street at the far end of the town, 
she knew that more than likely, her aunt, 
when she came to the door, would be very 
far from presentable. Then a delightful 


168 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


thought caused her to smile. The neigh¬ 
bors would see the fine car at her door. Ah, 
yes, she would be glad to drive over home 
with Mrs. Dainty. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE BANGLE 

T HE wonderful party was talked of for 
weeks, and all its charming happen¬ 
ings recounted. 

The tableaux, the soft lights and lovely 
music, the lively games, the dancing, the 
banquet, oh, it was hard to say which had 
been most enjoyed. 

One of the boys laughed about the absurd 
pup and his bone that he brought to the 
hearth-rug to enjoy, but little was said of 
Patricia, and soon her silly exhibition of 
temper was forgotten, which, surely was 
fortunate, for the scene was not pleasing to 
remember. 

Next came a party at Molly’s house, a 


169 


170 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


skating party on the little pond at the rear 
of her garden, with a feast of good things 
indoors when the boys and girls had skated 
until they were tired. There was a fair at 
the Center that every one enjoyed. Very 
swiftly sped the winter months, with inter¬ 
esting work at school, and good times out 
of school, and spring caught Merrivale 
unawares. 

It was a warm, lovely spring, with April 
mild enough for May, and May warm 
enough for June. 

On an especially warm, sunny afternoon, 
Dorothy and Nancy were walking home 
from school with Jewel, while Arabella and 
her cousin Leander followed close behind 
them. 

When they reached the gates at the Stone 
House, Dorothy turned toward the others, 
saying: 


THE BANGLE 


171 


“Come in for a little while,” so they 
strolled up the driveway, and soon were in 
the big living-room, drawing lots as to 
which should be the first to tell a story. 
The afternoon session at school had been 
hot and tiring, and it seemed good to sit 
telling stories for amusement, the soft 
breeze from the open window fanning their 
cheeks. Leander had been telling them an 
oriental tale that had been very exciting, 
and they were discussing the hero and his 
valiant deeds. 

Arabella had appeared as interested as 
the others while listening to the story, but 
at the first pause in their lively chatter, she 
turned toward Dorothy. She stared at her 
for a moment, then she said, “Leander 
said the Oriental girl wore bangles on her 
wrists and ankles.” 

“They do,” Dorothy said, “and there’s a 


172 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


painting that Father has just bought that 
shows a Turkish girl wearing them.” 

“Well—you don’t wear yours at all. 
Why don’t you?” 

Arabella was speaking to Dorothy, but 
she was looking at Jewel. 

“Arabella!” 

Leander spoke her name in a tone of re¬ 
buke. 

“Don’t you like your bangle now?” Jewel 
asked, her eyes wide-open as if with wonder. 

“Why-ee! I saw you take Dorothy’s 
bangle. I was peeping between the por¬ 
tieres when you sat on the rug in front of 
the Treasure Chest, with the bangle in your 
hand, and—well, right after that, Dorothy 
couldn’t find it.” 

“Jewel, Jewel! Don’t mind what she 
says!” cried Dorothy clasping her arms 


THE BANGLE 


173 


about Jewel, and holding her close as if to 
defend her. 

“I did see her holding it !” cried Arabella. 

“And I did take it,” said Jewel, “and my 
father had it repaired so it is perfect. Oh, 
don’t you like it, as it is now, so perfect, so 
lovely, Dorothy? It is just as perfect as 
when it was first made.” 

“Dorothy hasn’t seen it, Jewel,” Nancy 
said. “The little chest was locked weeks 
and weeks ago, and it hasn’t been unlocked, 
because they’re just treasures, things to be 
kept, not things she uses every day. Don’t 
mind what Arabella says.” 

“But I took the bangle home to Father to 
have it fixed for you, and it wasn’t long be¬ 
fore the fine stones were reset, and one day 
when I was here, I watched my chance, and 
I dropped the perfect bangle into the chest. 


174 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

It must have been there when you locked the 
other treasures in. 

“Come! Let’s unlock the chest, and then 
you’ll see how fine it is, since my father’s 
friend, the Oriental, re-set it.” 

Eagerly Dorothy ran to the little chest, 
Nancy and Jewel with her, Arabella slowly 
following. 

“I don’t wonder you lag behind, but I’ll 
help you to go right along and see for your¬ 
self that the bangle is there,” Leander said, 
under his breath, at the same time taking 
Arabella’s arm, and pushing her forward. 

“Tell Jewel you made a big mistake,” he 
said firmly, and Arabella gave them a genu¬ 
ine surprise. 

“I was mistaken,” she said, “and as long 
as I live, I’ll never believe anything is bad, 
until I know it is, and I ’ll try hard never to 
think anything mean about any one.” 


TEE BANGLE 


175 


‘‘Good for you, Arabella!” cried Lean- 
der. “Now I’m proud of you.” 

“ You ’re dear, Arabella,” cried Jewel, 
“and we’ll be good friends, true friends, al¬ 
ways.” 

Arabella stood, for a moment, silent, then 
she said, softly: 

4 ‘ You’re the first girl, Jewel Trafton, that 
ever called me ‘dear.’ ” 

Her eyes were shining. 

In a second Dorothy, Nancy, and Jewel 
had made a little ring around her. 

“You are dear,” said Nancy. 

“And brave, too,” said Dorothy, “for 
mother says it often takes real courage to 
say you’ve been wrong, so I, too, say you’re 
dear.” 

“Come, Leander. Let’s walk along up 
the Avenue. I’m so happy, ’fore I know it 
I’ll be crying just for clear happiness.” 


176 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“Then we’ll run along,” Leander agreed, 
and together they went out on the porch, 
Arabella turning, with shining eyes, to say, 
“I’ll be over soon, and I’ll keep my prom¬ 
ise.” 

44 We know you will!” they gayly cried, as 
they waved their hands. Arabella, happy 
because the girls that she had secretly ad¬ 
mired, now showed a fondness for her, went 
often to the Stone House, and to the old 
Dyke House, where Jewel always seemed so 
glad to see her. Soon Patricia began to 
complain of being neglected. 

She threw a note across the classroom 
one afternoon, and it landed at Arabella’s 
feet. 

She picked it up, and slipping it inside 
her book, slowly read it. 

The teacher had seen the note sailing 


THE BANGLE 


177 


across the room and guessed that Patricia 
had thrown it. 

It was near closing time, and if Patricia 
had been a pupil, she would surely have 
been kept after school, but she was only a 
visitor, having “honored” the school with 
her presence, as she thought. 

She had told several of the pupils that the 
schoolroom looked very small to her, now 
that she was going to the “ ’Cad’my,” and 
the pupils had been amused, for the little 
old house was not one-quarter the size of 
the schoolhouse, and they knew that the 
rooms of the “ ’Cad’my” must surely be 
much smaller than the classrooms at the 
school. 

Arabella had read the note and looking 
toward Patricia, had shaken her head and 
continued studying her lesson. 


178 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

After school, Patricia was waiting for 
her, ready to coax her to take a long walk 
with her, but Arabella had promised Lean- 
der that she would go on a long tramp with 
him, and Leander did not ask Patricia to 
“come, too.” Leander was rather shy with 
girls, but Patricia he especially avoided. 

“You think she’s silly,” Arabella said as 
she tramped along beside Leander. 

“I don’t think she’s silly,” the boy re¬ 
plied, “I know she’s silly, but that’s not the 
reason I keep away from her. Sometimes 
her silly ways are amusing, and make me 
laugh, but it is her habit of saying very dis¬ 
agreeable things that makes me think I’d 
rather see her at a distance.” 

For a time they walked in silence, Ara¬ 
bella thinking of what he had said, and Le¬ 
ander, watching her closely, and wondering 
what was in her mind. 


TEE BANGLE 


179 


When Arabella looked up, their eyes met, 
and Leander saw a brighter light in them 
than he had ever seen before. 

“I used to say unpleasant things, I did 
that day at Dorothy’s. I’m sorry,” she 
said. 

4 ‘But you made up for that, when you 
said what you did to Jewel, and said it be¬ 
fore Dorothy, and Nancy, and me. You 
made a promise that made me proud of you, 
and already the girls are more friendly with 
you.” 

“I know they are,” Arabella said, “and 
I’m happier than I ever was before. I used 
to wonder why the boys and girls didn’t like 
to come over to my house, but now I know 
my sharp words kept them away. I truly 
mean to watch myself, and never again 
drive friends away.” And while Arabella 
and Leander tramped along together, they 


180 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


knew nothing of the excitement that was 
stirring their friends on the Avenue, from 
the Stone House to a spot two miles beyond 
it. 

A band of Gipsies often camped on a field 
at the far end of the town, making trips 
from their tents to other parts of Merrivale, 
offering their bright-colored baskets for 
sale. Sometimes servants would pay them 
for telling fortunes, and it amused their em¬ 
ployers when they learned that Mary or 
Bridget would pay little to be told that they 
were secure in their present positions, but 
could be induced to pay almost any amount 
if the wily Gipsy told them that they 
would marry noblemen, and live in great 
splendor. 

There seemed to be a greater number of 
Gipsies encamped than ever before, and it 
was evident that they had made sure of visit- 


TEE BANGLE 


181 


ing the largest residences first, probably be¬ 
cause there would be more servants kept on 
a large place. 

An old Gipsy, with a number of baskets 
slung over her shoulder, called at the Stone 
House, or rather attempted to. Seeing the 
gardener at work, she strode over to him. 

“Buy a basket?” she asked, staring at 
him, her black eyes studying his face. 

“Guess not!” said John. “This old bas¬ 
ket here is good enough for weeds, if it ain’t 
fancy,” and he continued pulling weeds 
from the edge of the beds. 

“Then let me tell yer fortune?” she asked 
in a wheedling voice. 

“Me fortoon? No, mum. I don’t want 
to be tould an ould Oirishman loike me is 
goin’ ter marry a beautiful young colleen. 
Them yarns is nonsense, an’ could only 
plaze the young an’ foolish.” 


182 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“I was goin’ ter tell yer ye’d soon marry 
the cook,” said the Gipsy. 

“An’ wot luck is thot, Oi’ll ax ye, an’ her 
wid a timper loike red pepper, an’ a face 
that wad scare a cow? Now, will yez prom¬ 
enade along, afore Oi hoy ter help ye?” 

The Gipsy went off grumbling. 

The children watched for them, and never 
tired of relating tales that had been told 
them by maids who had seen and talked with 
the Gipsies at other seasons when they had 
encamped at Merrivale. 

Arabella and Leander had taken a short 
cut through the woods, and now, as they 
neared the opening, they caught a glimpse 
of a young Gipsy woman talking to some 
one whom they could not at first see, but who 
proved to be Patricia. A thicket of under¬ 
brush had shown the head and shoulders of 
the Gipsy, but had completely hidden Pa- 


THE BANGLE 


183 


tricia, until a bend of the path on which they 
were walking brought Arabella and Lean- 
der to a point where they could clearly see 
the girl and woman, while yet unseen by 
them. 

“Tell me some more!” Patricia said, 
“Tell me more!” 

“What else you gi’me?” questioned the 
Gipsy. 

“I’ve given you ever so much now,” Pa¬ 
tricia replied, grudgingly, “but I want to 
hear other things beside what you’ve told 
me.” 

The young Gipsy looked her over, with 
keen, alert eyes. 

“She vain, silly girl,” she thought, but 
she did not say that to Patricia. No, in¬ 
deed. She was too crafty to say anything 
like that. 

“You got bracelet, you got ribbons, you 


184 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

got pretty pin, you got locket!” she said, 
“an’ for those I tell you much, very much.” 

“I’ve given you two strings of beads, one 
that I was wearing, and the other that I took 
from my pocket.” 

“That’s ’nough for what I told you, but 
I must have more, if I tell more,” was the 
firm answer. 

“Do you know much to tell?” questioned 
Patricia eagerly. 

“Heaps!” declared the Gipsy. 

“Here’s the ribbon,” said Patricia, as she 
twitched it from her hair, “and there’s the 
bracelet. ’Tisn’t worth much, and I’ve had 
it some time, and I’m tired of it,” she added 
in a whisper. 

“What you say?” questioned the Gipsy, 
suspiciously. 

“Oh,—nothing much,” said Patricia, 
“and now hurry up and tell something.” 


THE BANGLE 


185 


“Well—I ’spects you’ll be a great lady, 
an’ wear silks an’ velvets, an’ ride in yer 
kerridge” 

Leander stooped to whisper close to Ara¬ 
bella’s ear; 

“You stay here. I’m going to take a 
hand in this.” 

“What else?” teased Patricia, excited by 
what the Gipsy had told, and wild to hear 
more. 

“ ‘What else?’ 4 What else?’ you say,” 
snapped the Gipsy. “Well, what else you 
give?” 

It was then that Leander strode out from 
behind the underbrush, and faced the 
startled Gipsy. 

“Say! How much do you want for tell¬ 
ing a girl a lot of stuff that hasn’t a word 
of truth in it? Now, be off. She’s silly to 
give things to you, in the first place, but that 


186 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

doesn’t make you look any better to take all 
creation, and then try to get more. Well, 
get along, will you, or there’ll be trouble!” 

It was then that Leander’s vanity was 
tickled. 

“I’ll go, Mister!” she said, and started 
running, lest he ask her to give back what 
she had acquired. He was an unusually tall 
boy, but that was the first time that he had 
been addressed as “Mister,” and although 
she was only an ignorant Gipsy, he was 
more pleased than he would have been will¬ 
ing to admit. 

The boy stood very straight, just a bit 
straighter than usual, as he watched until 
the Gipsy was at a good distance, and still 
going, then he turned to Patricia. 

“I didn’t think you were silly enough to 
listen to what a woman like that had to say, 
and I wasn’t very sorry for you, Patricia, 


TEE BANGLE 


187 


but I wouldn’t stand there and let that 
woman get anything more from you.” 

“Well, you certainly were brave,” said 
Patricia, “but I’ll always wonder what she 
was going to say next?” 

Leander looked at her with eyes that 
plainly showed his disgust, then he said: 

“Come on, Arabella, and, Patricia, you’d 
better walk along with us, for if we leave you 
here, you’ll probably go chasing after the 
Gipsy to give her a few more things, so you 
can listen to more of her foolish yarns.” 

“Now, Leander Correyville! She said I 
was to be a great lady and wear silks and 
velvets and—” 

“If she’d told you you were to be some¬ 
thing useful, you wouldn’t have been in¬ 
terested,” Leander replied. Patricia did 
not answer, for she knew that what he said 
was true. 


CHAPTER X 

PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 

P ATRICIA had been a pupil at the 
“Art-o-Lang Academy” for some 
time, and she had acquired a jumbled idea 
of a number of things, with but little real 
knowledge of any single subject. She, how¬ 
ever, boasted much of what she had learned, 
and she tried to use big words with the hope 
of astonishing her friends. 

She had been wondering how she could 
manage to display her stock of wisdom, 
when, like a flash, an idea came to her that 
filled her heart with delight. 

The tall woman and her short sister, pro¬ 
prietors and instructors at the so-called 


188 


PATRICIA GIVES A (( TALK ,} 


189 


“ Academy/’ had a great deal to say about 
culture, and they had many times declared 
that children should be trained in deport¬ 
ment, grace, and ability to talk interestingly 
to any one whom they chanced to meet, and 
they boldly stated that their school was the 
only one where such training could be ob¬ 
tained. 

Patricia already felt herself to be a 
learned person. 

The “Academy” consisted of but seven 
pupils, the youngest five, and the oldest fif¬ 
teen. 

One morning the little class was obliged 
to listen patiently while the short woman 
talked on art, grace, and beauty. 

Patricia listened and was charmed, al¬ 
though she understood far less than half 
that the lady said. 

Of the other six pupils, the three oldest 


190 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


were bored, and the three youngest went fast 
asleep. Patricia raced home as if her feet 
had wings. She knew exactly what she 
wished to do. 

She would give a “lecture”! 

She had long felt that she would like to 
do something that would show the neigh¬ 
bors ? children what a wonderful little per¬ 
son she really was. 

Her aunt had refused to let her give a 
party, because she did not like to have a 
“lot of noisy children running through the 
house,” she said. 

Well, they needn’t be in the house at all. 
She would give the lecture out-of-doors. 
That would be grand! 

Beyond the old fence were rows of bean¬ 
poles, the bean-vines gayly clinging to them. 
The fence was decidedly irregular. 

Patricia coaxed some empty boxes from 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


191 


the grocer, and these she placed near the 
fence for seats. 

“What are you doing, Patricia?” Mrs. 
Boggins shouted from the open chamber 
window. 

“I’m going to give a lec’shur, and these 
boxes are for the folks to sit on, while they 
listen to me,” Patricia replied. 

“Another notion!” remarked her aunt. 

“I guess I’ll be some amused ter hear that 
lecture, but I think I’ll stay in here, for 
sure’s I go out there, there’ll be small boys 
and small dogs under foot, and my head 
would ache fit to split, but I can hear from 
the winder. Patricia don’t never save her 
lungs. Most likely she’ll simply holler, so 
as ter look important.” 

When the boxes were all in place, Patricia 
thought of another matter. She raced up 
the back steps, and into the kitchen. 


192 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“I ? m going to give my lec’shur on Satur¬ 
day afternoon at two o’clock, and when Dor¬ 
othy Dainty has little friends at the Stone 
House, they have hot chocolate and cakes 
and bonbons before they go home, so I want 
to have a treat of some sort after my lec¬ 
’shur.” 

“Patricia, how many’ll be here?” Mrs. 
Boggins asked. 

“I don’t know,” Patricia answered. 
“I’ve invited ’bout twenty, but some of 
’em were horrid, and said right out that they 
didn’t want to hear me lec’shur, but most of 
them said they’d come, after I said there’d 
be a treat.” 

“You’ve got five boxes. What will the 
rest of the twenty sit on?” 

“They won’t sit on anything!” cried Pa¬ 
tricia, vexed at being questioned, “they’ll 
have to stand, of course.” 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


193 


“Well, let me tell you if I’m ter offer a 
lunch ter twenty youngsters, I’ll agree ter 
give ’em some crackers and water, an’ 
that’s all I will give.” 

“Crackers and water!” cried Patricia. 
“Well, I guess they wouldn’t come again.” 

“That’s just the idea! I don’t hanker 
ter see this yard filled with children invited 
in just promiscuous.” 

“I’ve some money left from what Ma 
sent me last week, and I’ll buy the treat and 
have a decent one,” Patricia said to her¬ 
self, as she hurried from the kitchen, and 
raced up the back stairs to the attic. 

“Off in another d’rection! Now what is 
she after up-stairs?” 

Mrs. Boggins listened, but hearing not a 
sound, concluded that Patricia was doubt¬ 
less primping before her mirror, so she did 
not call her. 


194 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

At that very moment, Patricia was in the 
attic, on her knees before an old trunk. 

The air was heavy with camphor and the 
odor of moth-balls, but Patricia kept on 
opening bundle after bundle, that had been 
carefully wrapped to protect its contents 
from the moths. 

As fast as she opened them she threw them 
aside until she at last found what she was 
looking for. 

Without stopping to wrap the parcels 
that she had opened she lifted the cover of 
the trunk, and tossed them in, leaving the 
one that she had been searching for on 
top of the old trunk, where she could 
quickly get it. 

Saturday proved to be a sunny day, and 
at half-past one the boys and girls of the 
neighborhood, some with a small brother or 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


195 


sister tagging after, came strolling into the 
yard. 

The last to arrive were Mandy Harkins, 
and her small brother, “Chub.” 

They had not been invited, for Patricia 
feared that they might prove annoying, but 
they had seen the other children going to 
Patricia’s yard, and they followed. 

Mrs. Boggins, from behind a sash-curtain, 
laughed softly when all filed out until but 
five remained. 

“Rag, Tag, and Bobtail!” she whispered. 
“Well, there’s music, such as it is, to greet 
them!” 

It was hardly music, for more correctly 
speaking, it was noise. The hens were cack¬ 
ling in one coop, the two dogs, Lionel and 
Algernon, were howling in the other coop 
where Patricia had tied them, while the pup, 
“Fairy,” was uttering little yelps, although 


196 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

no one could catch a glimpse of him, or even 
guess, by the sound, where he was. 

Patricia, having watched from her cham¬ 
ber window, saw five intending to remain, 
then drew her garments about her, in what 
she thought a very dignified manner, and 
went slowly down stairs. 

On her head was a small hat with a very 
long feather, on her shoulders, an old fur 
wrap of her aunt’s, from which tufts of fur 
loosened, where moths had eaten it, blew off, 
and floated on the breeze. 

Patricia walked, or strode, down the hall 
and out into the yard, and stopped facing the 
group of boys and girls. 

“I’m going to give a lec’shur that I heard 
at the 4 Cad’my,’ and it was all ’bout beauty, 
and kindness to animals. My teacher says 
you can only be truly beautiful, by having 
beautiful thoughts, and—” 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


197 


“Pleathe thay that again!” shouted Chub, 
“tho I’ll know what you mean.” 

Patricia repeated what she had said. 

“Look at me, girlth!” shouted Chub. 
“Apple dumplinth are beautiful! I’m 
thinkin’ of apple dumplinth! Do I look 
beautiful yetV } 

“Guess you’ll have to think a little 
longer,” drawled a girl next to Mandy. 

“Ten years of thinkin’, at least, to do such 
a job as that!” said a boy who stood near. 

“Will you stop talking and listen, 
please?” said Patricia. 

At this moment, Mrs. Boggins, who had 
been busily watching the other children, for 
the first time noticed the fur wrap about the 
small shoulders of Patricia. 

“Patricia Levine!” she shouted, “You 
come right in the house and take off my fur 
mantle!” 


198 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“I can’t stop in the middle of my lec- 
’shur,” Patricia declared with a stamp of 
her foot. 

“Are your thoughts ‘beautiful’ when you 
stamp your foot, Patricia?” asked Mandy, 
who sat facing her, “fer le’me tell yer, yer 
face don’t look any too sweet!” 

“I finished all I had to say on beauty,” 
Patricia said, “and I’m going to give the 
rest of my lec’shur on ‘Kindness to Ani¬ 
mals. ’ 

“My teacher says we ought to be very 
kind to animals.” 

“Bow-wow! Wow-woof! Ki-yi, yi-yi!” 
came deafening barks that seemed like ap¬ 
proval of what she had said. 

“Gueth they like what you jutht thaid,” 
remarked Chub. 

Patricia, her chin very high, continued. 

“You mustn’t ever forget to feed them, 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


199 


and you must try to think they are beauti¬ 
ful, whether they are, or not . 7 7 

“I couldn’t think that about some dogs I 
could mention , 77 whispered a girl who stood 
near Mandy. 

“Me, neither , 77 remarked Mandy with 
fine disregard of grammar. 

“You must never get angry, never forget 
to feed them, and never scold them ! 77 con¬ 
tinued Patricia. 

“Well, look at that ! 77 said one of the girls. 
“There goes our treat, so we may as well go 
home ! 7 7 

Patricia turned, and there at the bucket 
of cookies was Fairy, fairly stuffing him¬ 
self, while the other bucket that had held 
lemonade was overturned, and its contents 
trickling along under the coarse grass and 
pusley that covered the ground. 

In her anger and disgust Patricia forgot 


200 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

what she had been saying, and snatching up 
an old broom that lay on the grass, she 
chased Fairy, shouting: 

“You little pig! You horrid little pig! 
I’d like to catch you!” 

“Think beautiful thoughtth!” yelled 
Chub. 

“Remember to feed them!” cried a lanky- 
looking girl. 

“Never thcold them!” hooted Chub, “and 
think of the beautiful thingth, and you’ll be 
beautiful. Oh, ratth! There’th no thenth 
in what Patricia thaid!” 

“Come along, Chub,” said Mandy. 
“They’s no treat cornin’, and that lecture of 
Patricia’s was a joke, still I wouldn’t say 
there’s no sense in it! She said, 4 Think 
beautiful thoughts and you’ll be beautiful V 
Well, I guess Patricia put that a bit strong, 
but I do reelly ketch a thought in some of 



“There goes our treat 1 "—Page 199, 















. 

















PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 201 

the stuff she said. I guess it’s true ye he 
standin’ a better chance of lookin’ sweet if 
yer thoughts are pleasant an’ sweet, than if 
yer thoughts are sour.” 

“Goin’ ter try it?” asked a smaller girl, 
tauntingly, for Mandy was awkward, and 
ugly to look at. 

“Shouldn’t wonder!” said the lanky 
one. “ ’Tisn’t any harm ter try, an’ see 
what ’twill do!” 

Mrs. Boggins overheard some of these re¬ 
marks, and was actually astonished. 

“For the land’s sake! Patricia, really 
done some good with her lecture that I 
thought was silly. Maybe I’m too harsh 
with Patricia, an’ make her extry stubborn. 
Well, we’ll see!” 

Even Mrs. Boggins was given a new line 
of thought, for when Patricia came in hot 
and angry from racing after fat little Fairy 


202 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

who had taken refuge under the porch, she 
did not receive the scolding that she 
expected. She wondered why. She was 
ready to cry with vexation because of the 
teasing remarks made by her “audience” 
and waited stubbornly for her aunt to re¬ 
prove her for wearing the fur without ask¬ 
ing if she might. 

Instead, her aunt said quietly: 

“At first I was peeved at ye, Patricia, fer 
takin’ my fur piece out from the camphire, 
but when I see the fur a flying all ’round 
where the moths have gnawed it, I don’t see 
no use in keepin’ it, so if you can stand 
wearin’ it, yer welcome to. Yer lecture 
started out sorter com’cle, but afore ye fin¬ 
ished it I thought there was some sense in 
it, and ye was so mad at Fairy that ye didn’t 
hear Mandy standin’ up fer ye.” 

The kind words, in place of the expected 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


203 


scolding, and the offer of the furs, made Pa¬ 
tricia smile through the tears that lay on her 
lashes. 

A little later, Fairy, the naughty pup, 
came sidling in, glancing toward Patricia, 
but a bit afraid to bound toward her as 
usual. 

But to his wild delight Patricia held out 
her hand, and called him. 

“Come here, you little imp!” she cried. 
“You’re only a baby dog, anyway, so per¬ 
haps you didn’t know how naughty you 
were. You’re cute and cunning, and some 
day, maybe, you’ll learn that you inusn’t 
steal.” 

He didn’t know what she was saying, but 
it sounded very pleasant, so he wagged his 
stubby little tail, and felt that once more 
she loved him. 

Patricia was glad that she had given the 


204 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

lecture, for beside the fact that Mandy had, 
at last, approved, her aunt had spoken 
kindly, and joy of joys, she now could wear 
the fur wrap! She decided to give it a good 
shaking, and thus free it from all loose fur, 
so that when she wore it, it need not shed 
the fur on every breeze. 

Accordingly, she swung it over the 
clothesline, and shook and beat it, with the 
result that there w T ere places as large as her 
hand where the bare pelt showed. 

With needle and thread, she sewed the 
edges of the bare spots together so that 
much that was bare was hidden, but the 
wrap, thus tacked together in spots ap¬ 
peared to be all “humps and hollows/’ 

However it was fur, and she wore it, hot 
days and cool days, it mattered not which. 
On a very sunny day she met Arabella, and 
Arabella, as blunt as usual, asked her if she 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


205 


were not nearly “roasted,” to which Pa¬ 
tricia replied; 

“Dear me, Arabella! If only you were 
used to wearing furs, you’d not ask such a 
question. I’m just comfortable.” 

Later, on a cool day, Arabella asked her 
if the fur felt nice and warm. 

“The breeze is cold to-day so the fur must 
be comfortable,” Arabella drawled. 

“When you become used to furs as I am, 
furs will feel just delightful any time,” Pa¬ 
tricia said loftily. 

Chub, as regards “beauty” was not con¬ 
vinced, and one day he confided his thoughts 
to a playmate. 

There were mud-puddles in the street, 
and muddy water raced along the gutters. 

Chub and his chum were busy, floating 
chips, lashing the water to make the chips 
rock on tiny waves. 


206 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“My sister Ellen has a funny notion,” 
the boy said, pausing before launching his 
chip. 

“What ith it?” Chub asked with some in¬ 
terest, for he thought all girls funny enough, 
but he was willing to hear of one that was 
funnier than any he had yet met. 

“Well, she thinks that she’ll get her hair 
to grow awful long if she clips it every time 
there’s a new moon. Could you beat that, 
Chub?” 

‘ ‘ Sure I can! ’ ’ cried Chub. ‘ ‘ My thithter, 
I mean the big one, Mandy, thinkth the’ll be 
beautiful if the keepth thinking of beautiful 
thingth!” 

“Is she going to keep her mind on youV’ 
the boy asked, laughing. 

“Well, I gueth not! You ought to know 
better’n that. I ain’t beautiful. Boyth 
don’t want to be beautiful but girlth do! O 


PATRICIA GIVES A “TALK” 


207 


my! Girlth would do jutht anything to be 
beautiful! Whatth the uthe ? ’ ’ 

“Girls are silly,’’ declared the other boy. 
‘‘I’m glad I haven’t any sisters.” 

“ They’re handy, thometimeth.” 

“When, I’d like to know?” the boy asked. 
“When you want thomething mended,” 
declared Chub. 


CHAPTER XI 


A SALTY BREEZE 


t4 T If THAT a lot of happenings there 
▼ V have been this season,’’ Nancy 
said one day to Dorothy. 

“ Beginning with the time that you and I 
and Vera lost each other when we were in 
New York,” said Dorothy, “When we 
hunted all over the Metropolitan Museum, 
and then after all the hunting, we came to¬ 
gether again at Vera’s house. Didn’t we 
laugh?” 

“ Yes, and next the fine drawbridge,” said 
Nancy, “and weren’t we surprised when we 
saw it?” 

“We surely were surprised,” Dorothy 
said, “and the boys said our house had al- 


208 


A SALTY BREEZE 


209 


ways seemed like a castle, and that with the 
drawbridge, it was about perfect. It is per¬ 
fect, except that there is no moat around it, 
and I’m not sure that I care for a moat, do 
you?” 

“I wouldn’t like to have a moat, and 
surely we wouldn’t want to have a dungeon, 
for dungeons must have been dreadful, and 
I’d not want to have anything added to our 
house that any one could call fearful,” 
Nancy said. 

“The flag that Father has flying up on 
the tower, looks lovely when the breeze is 
blowing it in the sunshine,” said Dorothy, 
“and when we see pictures of old castles, 
they nearly always have flags on their 
towers.” 

“Next, Jewel came here to live, and then 
there was the mystery about the bangle, but 
when it disappeared, I never dreamed that 


210 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

Jewel had anything to do with it. I’m glad 
I didn’t, for only think of the sweet reason 
that made her take it? And wasn’t it won¬ 
derful how it all came out?” 

“It was wonderful, and Jewel was dear,” 
said Nancy, “and isn’t Arabella nicer now 
than she ever was before! She hardly ever 
does or says anything mean now. Remem¬ 
ber what happened to her, or rather to those 
goggles she used to wear?” 

Dorothy joined in Nancy’s laughter. 

“I can imagine how she and Leander en¬ 
joyed smashing them.” 

“And next we had our costume party, and 
oh, such a good time we had! Such a good 
time every one had!” Dorothy said. 

“Every one but Patricia,”"Nancy said, 
“and she could have enjoyed it if she’d tried 
to. It wasn’t nice for the pup to race in 
with that greasy bone, but we were ready to 


A SALTjt BREEZE 211 

laugh at him, and not blame Patricia, for it 
wasn’t her fault that he followed her in.” 

“She always goes out in the hall and sulks 
about something, but who ever dreamed that 
she went out into the stable?” Dorothy said. 

“Well, I guess she wouldn’t do that again. 
She probably thought that some one would 
come out there hunting for her and find her, 
but who would ever have looked there for 
her?” questioned Nancy, “and yesterday 
she gave a lecture in her yard, to some of 
the neighbors’ children,” she continued, 
“and that was all about thinking beautiful 
thoughts.” 

Mrs. Dainty, pausing to listen to their 
chatter, ventured a question. 

“Did you hear what she said about the 
sort of thoughts one should think, or their 
effect?” she asked, smiling at the two eager 
faces. 


212 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

i ‘ Oh, yes,’ ’ Dorothy said. * ‘ Reginald said 
a boy told him that the lecture wasn’t very 
long, but the one thing that she said over 
and over again was that people who wished 
to be beautiful must think beautiful 
thoughts, and he said that Chub kept inter¬ 
rupting her, and that after that she talked 
on kindness to animals.” 

“Those were good subjects, surely, and 
if Patricia will only keep very kind, lovely 
thoughts in her mind, she will certainly have 
a much pleasanter face,” Mrs. Dainty said. 

“ And what made the boys and girls laugh 
was that right after saying that, she got so 
angry with the puppy, that she screamed, 
and scolded, and chased after him, while 
Chub reminded her to ‘ think beautiful 
thoughts.’ ” 

“Well, that certainly was droll, but in re¬ 
gard to her statement that kindly thoughts, 


A SALTY BREEZE 


213 


loving thoughts, have an effect on one ’s per¬ 
sonal appearance, Patricia was right,” 
Mrs. Dainty said. 

Would a person who had homely fea¬ 
tures, become beautiful, just by thinking 
lovely thoughts?” Nancy asked in wonder. 

“Not just as you mean it, Nancy,” Mrs. 
Dainty replied. “Kindly thoughts would 
never straighten a crooked nose, or render 
straight hair curly, but gentle, loving 
thoughts can make a mouth curve into a 
friendly smile, and surely that mouth will 
look better than if its lips formed a sneer. 
Eyes that have no beauty of color or form, 
can shine with such a friendly, kindly light, 
that they will be far more charming than 
eyes of fine form and color, that show anger, 
or malice, for unkind thoughts can make a 
handsome face so unattractive that any one 
would turn from it in disgust.” 


214 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“Oh, Mother, I know that is true, and see 
the difference in Arabella since she is pleas¬ 
ant to be with. Tess Haughton said that 
leaving off her goggles, and having her 
dresses chosen by her mother, instead of 
Aunt Matilda, had made the difference, but 
I know now that she would always have 
looked better if she had smiled as pleasantly 
as she does now, and never said the horrid 
things she used to say.” 

“That is the i-dea,” Mrs. Dainty said, 
“and I think now that Arabella Correyville 
is a good-looking girl, with everything in 
her favor for a still more pleasing appear¬ 
ance, if she continues in her endeavor to 
think kind thoughts, and to refrain from 
making blunt, unpleasant remarks, and I 
believe she will.” 

“She will, I’m sure, and Nancy, maybe, 


A SALTY BREEZE 


215 


sometimes we can help her,” Dorothy said, 
to which Nancy readily agreed. 

Antony Marx had made a fine record at 
school, and he had been a great favorite 
with all. 

He had an endless number of adventure 
tales of the sea that his father had told him, 
and the boys continually coaxed him to tell 
them, and now that he had returned to his 
home at the shore, they missed him. 

On the day when he was saying 44 good- 
by” to his friends, some one spoke of Ara¬ 
bella’s absence. 

44 She’s up home helping about something 
that Aunt Matilda is doing,” said Leander, 
44 and she told me to say 4 good-by’ for her, 
and to tell you she’s sorry you’re going.” 

4 4 Tell Arabella that she has been so pleas- 


216 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


ant these last few weeks that she’s one of 
the friends I’m sorry to leave,” Antony 
said. 

“ And we wish you could stay longer,” was 
the eager response. 

They watched until he was out of sight. 

“There’s a new combination now,” said 
Jack, one morning. ‘ ‘ It used to be Arabella 
and Patricia. Now it’s Tess Haughton and 
Patricia.” 

Reginald Dean laughed. 

“That’s funnier than the first, for Ara¬ 
bella would let Patricia be as ‘bossy’ as she 
liked, and there’s no end to the amount of 
directing that Patricia can enjoy, but Tess 
won’t let anybody tell her anything, so I 
can’t imagine how they can get along to¬ 
gether,” Reginald said. 

“Maybe Patricia will tell Tess what to do, 


A SALTY BREEZE 


217 


and Tess will do as she pleases,’’ ventured 
Molly. 

‘‘Well, the biggest joke is yet to be told,” 
said Jack. 

‘ ‘ Tell us! Tell us! ” they cried. 

“You know the Gipsies were here for a 
few weeks, and they camped over in the sec¬ 
tion where Patricia lives. It seems that she 
made several visits to their camp, and now 
she’s posing for a fortune-teller, and she 
and Tess have a little place in Tess’s garden 
where they tell fortunes for the children of 
the neighborhood,” Jack said. 

“You mean, they did tell fortunes,” Regi¬ 
nald said, “for Tess Haughton’s aunt made 
them stop, because she said she wouldn’t 
have such a rabble on the place. Next they 
went over to Patricia’s house, but her aunt 
wouldn’t even let them start there, so they’re 
not telling fortunes, and Patricia says she 


218 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


doesn’t care. She thinks she likes lectur¬ 
ing better, and she and Tess are planning 
something but they won’t tell what.” 

Jack laughed at Reginald’s disgust. The 
boy disliked Patricia, but he had great curi¬ 
osity, and the fact that Patricia would not 
tell what she was planning made him wild 
to find out. 

There was another interesting thing that 
the boys and girls were wild about; a 
matter that puzzled them greatly. 

They all clamored for Jack to tell them 
what was in the little envelope that Antony 
had given him, on the day when he left Mer- 
riville. 

“I don’t know yet what’s in it,” he said, 
“for Antony said, ‘Open it later, some day 
when you boys are together.’ ” 

From his pocket he took the envelope, 
opened it, glanced at the note, then, with 


A SALTY BREEZE 


219 


shining eyes, Jack turned toward the others. 

“An invitation from Captain Marx for 
Jack Tiverton, Reginald Dean, his cousin 
Harry Dean, Leander Correyville, Arthur 
Merrington, and Sidney Merrington—six 
of us boys, think of it! to spend a week on 
shore, and sailing with him and Antony in 
his big fishing-smack. Oh, look! Here’s a 
postscript: 

“I forgot to mention another royal good 
fellow who will be with us, and that is your 
true friend, Uncle Harry. 

“Say, boys! Doesn’t that make you 
think you can almost smell the salt breeze 
from the sea? Three cheers for Captain 
Marx and the glorious week we’ll have as 
his guests!” Jack shouted, and they were 
given with a will. 

It happened that the boys were fond of 
the shore, so that they were enthusiastic 


220 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

over the week’s visit with Antony, and the 
promised pleasure of spending part of that 
time on the fishing-smack. 

And next the great secret that Patricia 
and Tess were so mysterious about was told 
to “the public,” as Patricia expressed it. 

“We’re going to N’York,” Patricia said, 
grandly, “we’re going to N’York. Mother 
wants me to come home for vacation, and 
I’ve written to tell her I’m coming, and she 
said I could bring a girl with me, so I chose 
Tess, because she hasn’t ever been to 
N’York.” 

“Do you mean to say,” said Molly, “that 
you and Tess are going to start off for New 
York alone?” 

“Well, no, not exactly alone, because 
Auntie will go almost all the way with us, 
and Mother will meet us at the station when 
we reach N’York. There’s no need of it,” 


A SALTY BREEZE 


221 


she said, “for Tess and I could get on all 
right, but Mother insisted that Auntie go 
with us, so she’s going to.” 

“Auntie at first said I couldn’t go,” said 
Tess, “but when she found that Mrs. Bog- 
gins—” 

“Tess Haughton!” cried Patricia. 

“I mean Patricia’s aunt,” said Tess, “for 
I know Patricia can’t bear the name of 
Boggins, and I forgot when I said it.” 

“Well, don’t manage to say it again,” 
Patricia said sharply. 

“It’s her middle name,” said Tess, with 
dancing eyes. 

“Tess Haughton!” cried Patricia, again. 

“I didn’t say the name again,” said Tess, 
laughing. 

“Well, I guess you’d better not,” said Pa¬ 
tricia, “not if you want to go to N’York 
with me!” 


222 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“My senses! I don’t have to go, and 
maybe I won’t,” Tess said pertly, and at 
once Patricia saw that she had made a mis¬ 
take. Tess was quite likely to take offense, 
and refuse to go, for Tess was stubborn. If 
it pleased her to do so, she would stay in 
Merrivale, and miss the promised trip, even 
if she really wished to go. Accordingly, Pa¬ 
tricia did what she had never been known 
to do—she made an attempt at apology. 

“I didn’t mean that just as it sounded,” 
she said, “for of course I want you to go 
with me. We’ve planned it, and I’d not 
half enjoy the trip if you didn’t go with me. 
You will, won’t you Tess?” 

Tess saw her advantage, and she meant to 
keep it. 

Patricia had been boastful, and in all of 
the plans that they had made, she had in¬ 
sisted on having her own way, regardless of 


A SALTY BREEZE 


223 


what Tess might wish. Arabella had been 
afraid of Patricia. 

Tess was not, and she had now, for the 
first time, shown her courage. 

She had considered herself as Patricia’s 
guest, and had, from the first, intended to 
let their plans be made so as to please 
Patricia, while yet conforming to her 
own. 

At every turn, Patricia had shown her 
selfishness, and she had spoken so sharply, 
that Tess decided to speak, so when Patricia 
had spoken as if she could take Tess with 
her, or not, as she chose, Tess literally 
“stood her ground,” and said: 

“Maybe Ill not go,” and surely Patricia 
was astonished. 

Won’t you, Tess? You know I so want 
you to,” she said. 

“Maybe I will,” Tess said, her eyes twin- 


224 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


kling, “if other things we’re planning for 
the trip come out pleasantly.” 

Patricia made no reply. This was very 
different from anything that Tess had ever 
done before, and she was puzzled. 

And Tess was puzzled, too. 

What did Patricia mean by first making 
an apology, and then making no answer to 
what Tess had said about their plans? 
Tess earnestly longed to take the trip, and 
she hoped Patricia would not decide to take 
the trip without company, or, yet more pro¬ 
voking, invite some other girl to be her 
guest. 

Tess resolved to be very careful of what 
she said to Patricia, and oddly enough, that 
was exactly what Patricia was thinking in 
regard to Tess. 

So it happened that each was very kind 
and considerate of the other, with the result 


A SALTY BREEZE 


225 


that everything went smoothly, and when 
the day came for them to start, both were 
promptly on the platform, waiting for the 
train, with Patricia’s aunt close beside them, 
lest the train come along, and one of them 
be left. The lady carried a suit-case in one 
hand, and a large bird-cage in the other, in 
which sat “Fairy” the fat little pup. Fas¬ 
tened to the cage, and on a leash was Alger¬ 
non, who envied the pup, because he was be¬ 
ing carried instead of kept on the end of a 
leash, while Fairy lounged on the floor of 
the cage, and wondered why he couldn’t be 
out on the platform instead of in a cage. 


CHAPTER XII 
“mother is just right” 

HEY were standing near the sun-dial 



JL in the garden at the Stone House, 
Dorothy and Nancy, Molly and Flossie, 
and they were wondering what their next 
game should be. 

“There’s a game we used ter play in th’ 
ould counthry, thot moight plaze ye, little 
ladies,” said the gardener. 

“Oh, John, you always do come along 
with just the right thing,” Dorothy said. 
“Please tell us how you played it.” 

“It was called ‘The Bee-hoive,’ ” the 
gardener replied, “an’ we called a haycock, 
or any object that come handy, our ‘bee- 


226 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 


227 


hoive.’ Now, one of yez must be the foine 
queen bee.” 

“Make Dorothy our queen bee,” said 
Flossie, and they agreed. 

“Now, Miss Dorothy, do ye order yer bees 
out of the bee-hoive to fly around among the 
flowers and get busy gathering honey.” 

“Away, away! Get fine honey for me!” 
cried Dorothy. 

Off they ran, up one path, and down an¬ 
other, chasing each other, then off again in 
different directions. 

“Whin yez return ter yer foine queen bee, 
yez bring petals if ye want ter riprisint 
honey, but one of yez must be a lazy bee, 
known as a drone, an’ thot wan will bring 
a piece o’ grass, or jist a green leaf, an’ the 
queen won’t accept thot.” 

“I’ll be the lazy drone bee,” said Molly. 
So when Nancy came with rose petals, and 


228 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


little Flossie with mignonette, these were 
accepted as fine honey, while laughing Molly 
offered a big plantain leaf, and was 
promptly dismissed to try again. 

Again they were sent forth, and this time 
Flossie brought a large red rosebud, and 
Nancy a spray of honeysuckle, for which 
she was made queen bee, and Dorothy went 
hunting honey as one of the swarm. 

Molly, always ready for a joke, produced, 
with a sober face, a thick old mullein leaf 
that she had found just over the wall at the 
rear of the garden. 

“Well, well, do you think that would ever 
make honey ?” Nancy asked, to which Molly 
answered that she was not quite sure, to 
which Nancy, as a haughty queen bee re¬ 
plied, “You’ll have to know more than 
that to be any sort of bee.” 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 229 

Molly was laughing outright now, but she 
managed to stop long enough to say: 

“I don’t care how little I know, for the 
less I know, the less likely am I to have to 
make honey.” 

Arabella who had come along the drive¬ 
way, unseen by the others, now asked to join 
the game, and soon they were racing away 
again, Dorothy laughing to see them rush 
from one point to another. Cute little 
Fluff chased first one and then the other, 
barking all the way, greatly excited, but 
wondering what it was all about. 

The game was a simple one, but it sent 
them from one patch of blazing color to an¬ 
other, from a mass of sweet-scented flowers, 
to another mass of showy ones, and their 
cheeks glowed from the exercise. 

Fluff, who had been watching to see 


230 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

which way they would next run, now turned 
abruptly and raced down to the great gate, 
to greet Jewel, of w r hom he had grown to 
be very fond. 

“Oh, you cunning little coaxer!” she 
cried, well knowing that when he stood 
upon his stubby little hind legs, he was beg¬ 
ging to be picked up, and petted. 

Up the driveway she went to join the 
others, Fluff held close in her arms. 

Standing him on the sun-dial, she stepped 
back, laughing to see him prance up and 
down, barking to be placed on the ground. 

Flossie tucked the long stem of a rose into 
the clasp of his collar, and then put him on 
the ground, when he scurried off to chase a 
butterfly. 

A long time they played the game, and 
then they sat on the grass in the shade of a 
big tree to rest. 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 


231 


“I had a letter from Patricia this morn¬ 
ing,” said Arabella, “and some of it any one 
could understand, and some of it doesn’t 
seem to make sense. I think one thing that 
makes it hard to understand is that she uses 
such big words.” 

“That’s just like Patricia. She does 
that when she’s talking with us,” Molly 
said, “ ’specially when she’s describing 
some place where she has been, or some¬ 
thing that she is wearing.” 

“I’ll read some of the queer parts aloud, 
and you’ll see what big words she uses.” 

As she spoke, Arabella drew the letter 
from her pocket. The paper was bright 
pink, and strongly scented. 

“The first part of her letter reads all 
right until she comes to where she’s trying 
to describe their long car ride to New York. 
She says: 


232 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“The colored porter said our bird-cage 
had too large a bird in it, and the cage must 
go to the baggage car. He said Auntie was 
’nopolizing a seat with the big cage, and 
Auntie said his manners was umbrageous. 

“We rode for just hours and hours, and 
later in the day we came to a station that 
the brakeman called— 4 Who’s sick, Colo¬ 
nel? Who’s sick, Colonel?’ and pretty 
soon the brakeman hollered — 4 Who’s 
sick, Colonel?’ and I looked around and 
I didn’t see any man wearing a uni¬ 
form. There were stations and stations, 
and after what seemed a long time, we 
reached New York, and there was Ma all 
dressed up, waiting to see us. 

4 4 She kissed me, and said 4 My, how 
you’ve grown!’ and then she looked at 
Auntie with the two dogs, and she gasped: 

4 4 4 Are there any more animals in the bag¬ 
gage car?’ and she said it sort of tart. 

4 4 Auntie said if there had been she would 
have been crazy when she arrived, and 
pretty soon we all got into a Taxi, and a 
newsboy on the sidewalk saw the two dogs 
and hollered, 4 What Circus Menagerie do 
you belong to?’ 

44 Ma and Auntie just looked at him, and 
he ran off laughing to the corner, where he 
poked another boy, and pointed at us. 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT y> 233 

u * Them is circus ladies/ he said, and 
then they giggled. 

“The breeze was zillerating — 

“Now, what did she mean by that?” Ara¬ 
bella asked, looking up at the others. 

“I don’t know what she was trying to 
say,” Molly said, “but I do wish Patricia 
would use words that we all know.” 

“So do I,” agreed Arabella, “but I guess 
it isn’t any use to wish that, because Patri¬ 
cia so likes big words.” 

“She speaks of Tess, and she says: 

“Tess was tired with the long ride, and I 
told her it was because she wasn’t used to 
traveling as I am. That if she traveled a 
great deal she wouldn’t ever think of being 
tired. Tess didn’t seem to like what I said. 
I’ve told Tess not to act green, but just to 
try to act as if she’d been living in the city, 
and she didn’t like that either. She don’t 
know how to act stylish like Ma and me do. 

“Your friend, 

“Patricia Levine.” 


234 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


i6 Mother, why do you think Patricia al¬ 
ways speaks as if any girl that she happens 
to have with her, knows so much less than 
she does?” Dorothy asked, as Mrs. Dainty 
came toward the little group upon the lawn. 

“ Patricia does appear to think better of 
herself than of any one else, and that surely 
is very unwise. I do earnestly hope that 
she will outgrow many of her faults that 
now are so trying. It may be that she will. 

“It is unwise for a child, or a grown per¬ 
son to acquire the idea that she knows much 
more than others do, for it often happens 
that she knows far less than the least of her 
friends, and is constantly displaying the 
fact. A correct use of simple words would 
make Patricia appear to far better advan¬ 
tage, than when she tries to astonish her 
friends with large words incorrectly used. 
Until Patricia learns this, she will always 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT }9 


235 


be compared unfavorably with other young 
people of her acquaintance.” 

Mrs. Dainty spoke earnestly, and the 
girls sat silently thinking of her words after 
she had turned toward the house. 

“Your mother is just right,” said Molly. 
“Patricia doesn’t have to act the way she 
does, so it isn’t any harm to say she’s silly. 
She’d be nice to play with if she didn’t act 
so.” 

“Oh, well, there’s no end to things like 
that, that you can say,” said Leander, who 
had just sprung over the wall to join the 
group. 

“A mule would be all right if he didn’t 
kick, a burglar would be all right if he 
didn’t steal, an apple would be fine if it had 
no core. We don’t want to say anything 
mean, so we’ll just say that perhaps she’ll 
improve.” 


236 DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 

“There’s room for improvement,” said 
Jack Tiverton, whose laughing face peeped 
over the wall, and then suddenly “ducked” 
to dodge the ball that Leander had flung in 
his direction. 

Jack bobbed up laughing. 

“You’re careless to use a fine ball like 
that for a missile,” he said. 

“I wouldn’t, only you’re the fine chap 
that is sure to throw it back,” Leander said, 
laughing. 

“Come on over to the baseball field, and 
have a game. The other fellows are over 
there, and I came over to find you,” said 
Jack, and arm in arm they set off for the 
field. 

“Ladies, ladies! Don’t gossip while 
we’re gone!” Jack turned to say, with an 
effort to make his round face look stern, and 
a chuckling laugh that would not be stilled. 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 


237 


“Pooh! Who ever heard us do anything 
like that?” cried Molly. “We’d not care 
to, and one thing you boys know—Dorothy 
wouldn’t let us.” 

“Three cheers for Dorothy Dainty!” 
cried Leander. “Not 4 Three cheers and a 
tiger,’ but 4 Three cheers and a Fluff’!” 

The cheers were eagerly given, and when 
Fluff heard his name mentioned, he re¬ 
sponded with a loud, 44 Wow!” 

The postman entered the gateway, and 
seeing the little group on the lawn paused 
before Dorothy, smiling at her bright, eager 
eyes. 

44 I’ve a letter for you, Miss Dorothy,” he 
said, sorting those that he held in his hand, 
and producing one addressed to her. 

44 Oh, thank you,” she said, glanced at 
the writing, and turned quickly to Nancy, 
her blue eyes shining. 


238 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


“That is Betty Chase’s writing, I do be¬ 
lieve. I know the way she makes her y’s.” 

“Oh—oo! Hear this!” she cried, “hear 
this! It is from Betty and her mother 
wishes us to spend the third week of June at 
their cottage at the shore.” 

“That will be fine!” Nancy said. 

“And she says that Vera Vane has ac¬ 
cepted, and will be there, so when Molly, 
and Flossie, and you, Nancy, and I arrive, 
there’ll be just six of us to have good times 
together. Won’t we enjoy that week?” 

“And won’t we be glad when you come 
back to play with us?” said Jewel. “Then 
you can tell us all about your visit, and Ara¬ 
bella and I will plan some way of enjoying 
the week.” 

Arabella leaned toward Jewel, and put 
her arm around her. It was the first time 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 


239 


that she had shown affection for any of her 
friends. 

Molly and Flossie stared with wide-open 
eyes, and Dorothy and Nancy were surely 
surprised. 

Three days later, as Dorothy and Nancy 
were driving through the Center, Jack Tiv¬ 
erton came out of one of the stores, and 
when he saw them he stopped on the curb as 
if he wished to speak to them. 

Dorothy drew rein, and Romeo promptly 
stopped. 

“ Reginald told me yesterday that Betty 
Chase had invited you, and Nancy, and 
Molly, and Flossie to spend a week at their 
cottage at the shore,” he said. “Of course 
you’ll go. You couldn’t refuse a tempting 
invitation like that.” 

“Oh, surely we’re going. We’re to spend 


240 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


the third week of June there,” Dorothy 
said. “And Vera Vane is to be there, and 
you know, Jack, how full of fun Vera is.” 

“Full of fun!” cried Jack. “Full of fun! 
If you say that Vera is full of fun, you’ll 
have to agree that the third week of June is 
full of fun! My! But that’s luck!” 

“Now, Jack Tiverton!” said Nancy, 
“just stop laughing long enough to tell us 
what the great joke is. What is it that 
makes you say, ‘My! But that’s luck!’ 
What do you mean?” 

‘ ‘ Say, girls! Do you remember that Cap¬ 
tain Marx invited five of us boys to spend a 
week with Antony?” 

“Of course we do,” said Dorothy and 
Nancy, as if with one voice, “and you’ll en¬ 
joy that.” 

“Well, girls, our invitation is for the 
third week of June . Now, isn’t that luck? 


“MOTHER IS JUST RIGHT” 241 

All of us to be at the shore at the same time ? 
I remember Betty Chase. She was a bright 
one.” 

“Betty is dear,” said Dorothy, “and it is 
fine that we are to be at the shore for the 
same week that you boys are to be there. 
It will surely be a lively week.” 

Romeo was trying to learn if Jack had 
any candy in his pockets. 

“Come, Romeo, you can’t expect Jack to 
have sugar for you all the time,” Dorothy 
said, as she gathered up the reins, and 
turned Romeo toward home. At lunch, Mrs. 
Dainty spoke of the visit to Betty’s cottage, 
and then told them of plans for July and 
August. 

“When you and Nancy return, we shall 
start on a trip to a quaint little country 
town, that will permit us to enjoy both sea¬ 
shore and country, because while it is on the 


242 


DOROTHY DAINTY’S CASTLE 


coast, with a wonderful beach, it also has a 
fine background of hills behind it. We 
have never spent the summer there, but 
Aunt Charlotte knows the place, and she 
thinks it charming.” 

After lunch, Dorothy and Nancy sat in 
the big red porch hammock, and talked of 
the Summer, the plans for which were de¬ 
lightful. Romeo and Fluff were to go with 
them. He sat at their feet looking eagerly 
from one to the other, as if he fully under¬ 
stood what they were saying. 

It was great fun to sit and swing, and 
talk of the summer pleasures that they were 
looking forward to. It was like a lovely 
dream that they knew would come true. 


THE END 





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